


Let Me Fix You

by NightWriter89



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 18:58:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7945579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightWriter89/pseuds/NightWriter89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Let me fix you," she whispered. Carefully, the brunette wiped away the tears from Quinn's face. She wished she could wipe the sadness from the blonde's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is a repost of a fic of mine that I used to post on FF.net. This story was my first Faberry and I wrote it with a lot of pleasure. Of course, I still don't own Glee or its characters (bummer, otherwise it would still be on). Further, there will be a couple of original characters and the parts in italic are flashbacks. Without further due, I present you: Let Me Fix You.

With her hands in her pockets Quinn Fabray looked around the empty apartment. Outside she could hear the cars passing. This apartment was something completely different from her old house back in Roswell, but she had no problem with leaving it behind. This was her way of starting over. A loud bang made her turn around and saw one of the movers had dropped a box.

 

“Sorry.”

 

Guilty he glanced up as he tried to pick up the box again. Quinn grinned and walked over to him. Her footsteps sounded hollow through the house, just like her heart was feeling.

 

“It’s okay. Leave it.” 

 

Thankfully the man let go of the box and went back downstairs to help his colleague to get the rest of the stuff. Quinn walked to the window and looked outside. She had managed to get an apartment at the fourth floor of an apartment building at Michigan Avenue, nearby the hospital she would start working. She sighed and heard the movers come up with more stuff. The next hours she busied herself decorating her apartment and unpacking. At the end of the day she laid down on her couch, completely worn out, but she had unpacked the most things and her apartment was worth living in. Only now she had time to think, to think about what she had left behind. She closed her eyes and immediately the familiar faces of her crew appeared. Over the years they had become friends, even closer then family. She sighed, she didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to think about how she would never see them again, no matter what she tried. It was over, she had lost her family for the second time in her life. She felt alone, hollow. 

 

~~~

 

“No, Jenny, we can’t. We already are understaffed.” 

 

With a bang doctor Karen McLaughlin hung up the phone. Sighing, she glanced around her E.R department. They could barely keep the E.R open for patients, due to cuts in the budget, she had lost two doctors and three nurses. Luckily she had convinced the board to hire a new doctor and a new nurse, otherwise they could send their patients straight to Loretto Hospital and close this department. But when she started here, she swore she wouldn’t let that happen, not on her watch. 

 

“Doctor McLaughlin!” 

 

She turned and saw one of the attendings walking down the hall towards her. In his hand he held a chart and he looked worried.

 

“Doctor Jameson, spit it out.” 

 

Unsure if she was joking, he glanced at her and handed her the chart. She quickly read the changes.

 

“His liver is failing. I already called Dialysis, but they are one machine down,” he told her the bad news. Her face twitched and handed him the chart.

 

“Get them down, even if you have to drag them down,” she said and sends him away. She sighed again, this patient had been brought in a few hours ago from a car crash and it looked like he won’t make it. She walked behind the desk and ditched up the bag that came with him. It was time to call the family.

 

“Doc?”  She looked up at Jake, the desk clerk, who held the phone to his chest. “There’s a multiple trauma coming in, a bus full of kids.” 

 

She nodded and swore inwardly. She hated traumas where kids were involved. “Who’s around?” she asked him.

 

“Just you. Doctor Smith and doctor Nickelson are on lunch break.” 

 

She walked past the desk, towards the emergency entrance. “Page them!” 

 

For her age doctor Karen McLaughlin was pretty short, it was in her family. Sometimes it was tricky, but she was used to it, she had a good voice to let people know she was in charge. She stepped outside into the ambulance bay, she could hear the ambulances coming. She glanced up at the sky, big snowflakes were coming down rapidly. She grabbed the hems of her coat and pulled it tightly around her to hold some of her body warmth. She glanced back at the entrance, waiting impatiently for the first ambulance. A running person caught her eye. It was a blonde female, running towards her. She scowled, the woman wasn’t packed in a thick layer of cloths, like normal people. Not even gasping for air the woman stopped next to her.

 

“Hi, I’m looking for uhm…doctor McLaughlin,” she said, smiling slightly.

 

“You found her,” Karen reacted dryly and the woman grinned.

 

“I’m Quinn Fabray…” 

 

“The new doc,” Karen interrupted her, glad Quinn already arrived. She was supposed to start tomorrow, but Jake had probably called her up.

 

“Yeah. I got a phone call, you have a multiple trauma?” she asked and Karen was surprised the woman wasn’t quivering in the cold. Apparently she was used to cold.

 

“Yes, you can start right away.” Karen had to speak louder, the first two ambulances drove into the ambulance bay. “You take the second one. You know where Trauma Two is?” she asked, running to the first ambulance.

 

“Yes.” Quinn ran to the second ambulance and Karen was happy to notice Quinn wasn’t a woman of many words; she already had an overflow of rambling interns and attendings. 

 

~~~

Weeks passed and Quinn had settled into Mercy Hospital and even had made some friends. None of them were as close friends as her old friends in Roswell, but they were people she liked hanging out with. 

 

“You are so not picking in that surgery. That’s mine!”

 

Grinning Quinn followed the discussion behind her between the interns Jessica ‘Jessie’ Smith and Gary Nickelson. Jason Collins, the third intern, was just listening to his colleagues, trying to hide his grin.

 

“I was first!”

 

“Not, I was!” 

 

“Should we tell them?” Quinn looked back at her table as Kevin McCain, one of the attendings, asked 

the question. Quinn grinned and shook her head.

 

“Let them fight, it’s good for them,” she smirked and glanced back at the interns. Jessie looked like she could bite of Gary’s head in any second.

 

“What if they kill each other?” Heather McKinley, also an attending, asked worried, glancing at the relaxed blonde across her.

 

“At least they kill each other in the hospital. They will have a change to survive,” Quinn mocked and laughed at Heather’s face. 

 

“You so didn’t say that!” Quinn laughed even louder at that reply. As an intern she had to fight for her surgeries too and it only made her stronger and better at her job.

 

“Guys, stop fighting. I will do the surgery.” 

 

Immediately Jessie and Gary stopped fighting and stared in disbelief at a smirking Jason, who stared back at his colleagues.

 

“You?”

 

“See, problem solved.” Smirking Quinn stood up, picked up her plate and walked out of the canteen, right into a busy E.R. The emergency doors slid open and a heavily bleeding woman got wheeled in by the paramedics. Quinn searched for Karen, who just came into the E.R with another patient.

 

“Trauma One, Quinn!” she yelled at the blonde and Quinn ran with the paramedics to Trauma One, while listening to the paramedic who had started rambling the vital stats of the patient. 

 

~~~

 

Peace had come down in the E.R. and Quinn was filling in some forms at the desk as Karen approached. For a moment she took in the serious looking blonde. Over the weeks she had become friends with her and something about Quinn was off, she rarely laughed and when she did, her laugh never ever reached her eyes. Karen could tell the blonde had been through some heavy times. Quinn had told her she used to work on a SAR squadron as medic, but had never told why she’d come to Chicago.

 

“We make a good team, didn’t we?” 

 

Karen looked up and saw Quinn smirking at her. Karen returned the smirk and nodded.

 

“Definitely. How is your man?” she asked, laying down her chart at the desk and leant on the desk, glancing up at Quinn. Quinn was taller, much taller, but Karen didn’t mind, she was used to it.

 

“Woman. She didn’t make it. Massive bleeder in the abdomen, probably the spleen,” Quinn said and sadness slid across her face. The doors of the emergency entrance hissed and made both women look up. A tall, handsome man in air force uniform walked inside. Slowly Quinn got up from the desk she was leaning on, her eyes glued at the man. 

 

“Lieutenant Fabray,” he greeted and Quinn saluted at him. Smiling he saluted back.

 

“Colonel Lincolns, what brings you here?” 

 

He nodded politely at Karen before returning his gaze on Quinn. His eyes darted in the air between them, like he was searching for words.

 

“You. We need to talk.”

 

~~~

 

The lounge room was quiet around this time, only doctor Heinrich was dictating his charts. Silently, Quinn sat across her old CO, Daniel Lincolns. She had no idea why he was here to talk to her. There was nothing to talk about, she was done with the SAR squadron she used to be part of, and she had started over here.

 

“I have a proposal.” Daniel broke the silence, trying to see her reaction. She didn’t move a muscle, her face was in a no emotion mode. “Quinn, I can offer you your old job back.” 

 

Now her head jerked up, her eyes fierce. “I don’t want it.”

 

He closed his eyes, he kind of expected that reaction. He opened his eyes again to meet her glance. “Quinn, I know you’re scared…” he started.

 

Suddenly Quinn stood up and turned her back at him, staring out of the window. “It’s not that. I can’t go back there. There are too many memories.” 

 

Daniel stood up to and came standing behind her, he laid a hand on her shoulder. He was surprised she didn’t shake it off right away.

 

“Is that a bad thing?” he asked softly. She swirled around to face him, her eyes filled with sadness. She had folded her arms before her chest.

 

“Yes, it is if I need to work in it. I can’t work and constantly think about…her.” Her head dropped to her chest, fighting back the tears that threatened to surface.

 

“Jaidy wouldn’t have wanted you to stop.” Fatherly, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, knowing she was in pain. She glanced back at him, her eyes were glistening and a single tear rolled down.

 

“You don’t know that. We will never know what she wanted me to do. She’s dead.” 

 

Silence fell between them, wrapped up in their own thoughts. They both didn’t noticed doctor Heinrich packed his stuff and walked to the door. At the door he met Karen, who just wanted to enter. Without saying anything, he shook his head and motioned to Quinn and the colonel. Karen nodded and turned back. The door closed softly behind them.

 

“Think about it. I need you, this team needs you. They are not a team yet, they miss someone like you, Quinn. I know you miss it, the adrenaline.” 

 

Quinn had to agree, she did miss the adrenaline shot that shot through her veins just before she had to go down. That sort of adrenaline shots she didn’t get here in the hospital. But the reason of her departing stopped her. She didn’t know if she could work there again, knowing she wouldn’t found what she was looking for. Her mind went back in time…

 

_ A sudden deafening alarm sounded through the building, there was a call out. Quickly Quinn stored the medical stock and ran to the changing room. Ralf, Jaidy and Joachim Israel, the flight engineer, were already changing.  _

 

_ “You’re getting lazy on your old day,” Jaidy mocked the beautiful blonde.  _

 

_ “I bet I’ll be the first one who’s in the chopper,” Quinn dared her friend with a smirk.  _

 

_ “Deal. Five bucks.” Jaidy held out her hand and Quinn slammed it.  _

 

_ “Sorry, girls. You both loose, I’ll be first.”  _

 

_ Ralf was standing in the doorway, all geared up.  _

 

_ “But you’re not in the chopper, that’s the deal,” Quinn smirked, pulling on her suit and grabbed the small, medical bag. With Jaidy on her tail, Quinn raced past Ralf, running to the chopper. She heard Ralf and Jaidy coming after her when she jumped into the red and yellow chopper, smirking at her teammates. They both climbed in the cockpit and after Joachim jumped in, Quinn slammed the cargo door close and in a glimpse she saw Ralf’s right hand trembled. Scowling she sat down on her seat, putting on her helmet and connected with the intercom.  _

 

_ “Now, who’s lazy?” she mocked them, feeling the chopper trembling under her. Ralf slowly turned on the motors, Jaidy quickly ran through the many instruments. Within a few minutes they were up in the air. _

 

_ “I will beat you some day,” Jaidy gave back and glanced over her shoulder.  _

 

_ “Good luck with that,” Joachim snickered and smirked at the blonde who sat opposite of him. She smirked back and winked. _

 

The siren of an arriving ambulance pulled her back to the present and she looked up at Daniel. 

 

“I’ll think about it.”

 

“Thanks, Quinn.”

 

He held her glance and a small smile crept up her face. Suddenly, the door of the lounge swung open and broke their contact. In the doorway was Karen standing, wearing scrubs and gloves and holding a pair of scrubs out.

 

“Sorry to interrupt, but we got a double GSW,” she said, handing Quinn the scrubs. Quickly, Quinn pulled them on and turned to face Daniel.

 

“I’ll call you,” she promised and disappeared. Alone, Daniel stayed behind, lost in his own thoughts.

 

~~~

Tired, but satisfied Quinn walked at the end of her shift into the locker room. For a second her mind wondered back to her conversation between her and the CO. She walked to the back of the room, where her locker was and opened it. She took of her coat and hung it in the locker. While doing it, her mind went back to her time at the squadron and sighed. To be honest, she missed it, she had always loved being outside, no matter the weather circumstances.

 

“Do you know what I have heard?” Quinn’s attention got pulled as she heard someone talking across the locker room. She thought she recognized Jessie’s high voice, punctuated with excitement.

 

“No, I still can’t read your mind.” That was definitely Gary’s deep voice, he sounded rather annoyed.

 

“Our very own doctor Fabray had a visitor today.” Quinn was surprised she didn’t see Jessie jumping through the roof, so much excitement sounded through her voice.

 

“So?”

 

“So? It was a high man from the air force, or something.” Softly Quinn chuckled, good news always traveled fast around here. “Rumor has it doctor Fabray was part of a Search And Rescue team at the border with Mexico.” Now Quinn pricked her ears, she was curious how this rumor would end.

 

“Who told you?” she heard Gary asked, his curiosity was clearly aroused.

 

“An O.R. nurse. Apparently, doctor Fabray had connections with a drugs gang, who were hiding in the mountains after a big deal. Doctor Fabray knew this and simulated a call out, to play taxi for the drugs. But…”

 

Quinn felt the urge to storm at those two and yell at them, to tell them to mind their own business, but she resisted it and forced herself to listen.

 

“…doctor Fabray had managed to get out alive after the crash. She didn’t care and went looking for her gang, to pick up the drugs.” 

 

“Did she find them?” That was another voice and Quinn could hear multiple footsteps and murmurs. Great.

 

“Yes. She delivered the drugs and went off radar. Apparently, she didn’t care about she practically drove…flew her team to death.” 

 

Angrily, Quinn slammed her locker door shut and stomped out of the room. She really liked to crash something right now. That rumor was a lie and she had to cut it. She ran outside, out of this horrible place. Maybe she should have stepped in, tell the truth, but she didn’t like be vulnerable. Especially not in front of some immature interns. She leant against the wall and rolled her head aside to look at the hospital. She was standing at the entrance of the ambulance bay. She had really hoped she could start over here, but clearly the crash haunted her everywhere. Maybe it was a good idea to return, to show they couldn’t get her down. She missed working in such a small team, a team that would be close. And if she understood it right, Daniel coped with a team that first wasn’t complete and secondly nowhere near being a close team. She turned her head away and leant it against the wet, cold bricks, her hands in the pockets of her vest. She knew Karen hadn’t enough doctors, so how could she abandon her? But on the other hand, the squadron was calling her.

 

~~~

Tiredly, Karen stretched herself on the couch in the lounge. She knew she would regret it when she would wake up, but she needed some rest. It was one busy day, but she didn’t mind. She had seen Quinn hardly, which she did and didn’t regret at the same time. There was something in that blond, gorgeous, stunning woman that attracted her. In her college years she once dated a girl, but when she went to med school, she broke the relation, she didn’t had time for her anymore. She hadn’t been in a relationship since. Actually, she even hadn’t thought about it, until  _ she _ showed up. Slowly, Karen drifted off the sleep, but immediately woken up when she heard footsteps come in the lounge. Her eyes flew open and saw Quinn standing in front of the window. Karen sat up and rubbed her eyes.

 

“Jeez, Fabray, don’t you ever go home?” Chuckling, the blonde turned, but Karen saw her eyes didn’t laugh along. In fact, the blond looked even sadder than ever. “Quinn, what’s up?” 

 

Quinn walked away from the window and sat down in a chair across Karen.

 

“I have a problem,” she said.

 

“Problems are there to be solved,” Karen stated and smiled. The blonde nodded, but didn’t return the smile. Instead, she looked Karen straight in the eyes.

 

“We need to talk.”


	2. Chapter 2

The early morning air approached Rachel Berry like a cold blanket. She loved the early morning, especially in the spring. The air was brisk, but not too cold to be freezing. She parked her mountain bike against the building and took off her helmet. From underneath it appeared her short, dark brown hair. From the moment she started working here, she had decided to cut her hair short, it was way more practical than her long locks.

She noticed none of her colleague’s had arrived, but she expected that. Why would they? As long as they didn’t have a medic, they wouldn’t fly a lot, only in emergency and if there would be a reservist from the hospital. Her shift started in about an hour, so she was pretty early. She walked inside the building to drop her helmet and picked up an apple from the lounge. There were times she wondered what her life would have looked like if things had gone differently. Would she be a star in Broadway? Performing and singing used to be her life, but now she had something else to make her adrenaline pomp. She grinned and walked outside to the red and yellow helicopter that was standing stand-by next to the base of the 512th squadron in Roswell. She climbed into the cargo and checked everything over, while whistling a song that was stuck in her head.

_Rachel:_

_Yeah, you may think that I’m a zero_

_But hey, everyone you wanna be_

_Probably started off like me_

  _You may say that I’m a freakshow (I don’t care)_

_But hey, give me just a little time_

_I bet you’re gonna change your mind_

 

A motorbike pulled up on the road and parked on the parking lot.

 

_All of the dirt you’ve been throwin’ my way_

_It ain’t so hard to take (that’s right)_

_‘Cause I know one day you’ll be screamin’ my name_

_And I’ll just look away (that’s right)_

 

Rachel didn’t notice some blonde woman came standing next to the cockpit, looking up interested. Rachel was all caught up in her work and the song.

 

_Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth_

_So everyone can hear_

_Hit me with the worst you got and knock me down_

_Baby, I don’t care_

_Keep it up, and soon enough you'll figure out_  

_You wanna be_

_You wanna be_

_A loser like me_

_A loser like me_

 

“Can’t believe you still remember that song, Manhands.”

Startled, Rachel stocked her singing and work. There were just a few people who called her like that and she hadn’t heard the name in a while. Slowly she looked down. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened a few times.

“Lost your tongue? I’m not used to that from you, Rach."

The woman smirked as the dark haired woman climbed out of the chopper and came standing in front of the blonde who was slightly taller.

“No…Just…Quinn?” Surprised Rachel looked up at her high school rival. She never ever expected to see Quinn here, she thought Quinn left to go study somewhere. “What are you doing here?”

Now Quinn glanced at the building and a sad smile appeared on her face. “I’m coming home.” Rachel scowled, she didn’t understood what Quinn was saying. “Come on. Briefing on eight thirty, right?”

Rachel nodded and went with Quinn into the building.

“Quinn, you’re back?” Joyce, who managed the desk and was the meteo of the crews, came from behind her desk and hugged the tall blonde. Grinning, Quinn let Joyce, she had missed the red head.

“Nope, I’m her twin sister,” she mocked and Joyce chuckled.

“Don’t mock me.”

“Get used to it. I’m staying.”

Quinn walked up the stairs, Rachel leant against the desk towards Joyce, who was gathering her weather slides.

“You know her?” she asked and the redhead nodded before glancing up at Rachel. Joyce had started to like Rachel. At first she had her doubts about Rachel, she had reminded her to much about Jaidy, but Rachel was really nice and a brilliant pilot. Slowly, they had started to know each other and she had quickly learned Rachel wouldn’t talk about her past, not even when she got drunk. Joyce chuckled inside, she and Jackie, the WING-Ops had tried it, but Rachel had looked right through them.

_“You two are trying to get me drunk so I will start blabbering about my past,” Rachel stated, glaring at the two innocent looking women next to her._

_“No, we wouldn’t dare,” Jackie had said and shove another beer towards Rachel. Rachel had glared at it for a few moments and had shoved it back._

_“I’m supposed to fly tomorrow and I do that rather sober,” she had joked. She had stood up, paid the bill and left. At the door she had turned to the two at the bar. “To trick me, you have to get up really early,” she had winked and went outside._

_“Damn,” Joyce had murmured. Their ‘flawless’ plan had turned out not to be flawless after all._

“Yes, that’s Quinn, she used to be medic here and apparently she’s back,” Joyce said, getting out of her thoughts. Rachel nodded and stared up the stairs.

“Why’d she left?”

Joyce followed her stare and sighed.

“You have to ask her. Come, we are running late.”

Joyce came from behind her desk and together with Rachel she went upstairs to the briefing room.

 ~~~

It felt good to walk through the familiar halls and wearing the familiar uniform. It felt also weird to walk here, without seeing the familiar faces she longed to see, but with the horrible memories of what happened. She swallowed as she set foot into the with silence filled briefing room. Quinn stood in the doorway, looking into the room. There was a gradual tribune, on each step stood a row with chairs with a tray attached to it. Last time she was here, she heard she was about to fly right into a raging storm. She knew the storm was coming and still Jaidy and Ralf decided to go when the call-out came. She should have stopped them, then… She sighed, this was all afterwards thinking, there was nothing she could change now. She stepped into the room and her eye caught the pictures on the back wall. The very familiar smiling faces stared at her, one in particular held her eye. The door behind her slammed open and a few men entered, while busy talking and mocking with each other. Quickly Quinn walked up the steps to take her old seat in the back of the room, against the wall. She scanned the faces, she didn’t see any familiar faces. Another group of people entered and now she recognized the faces of crew B and smiled at them. Surprised, Richard Jackson, also medic, came sitting next to her.

“Welcome back,” he said and smiled at her. She smiled back and winked. She wanted to let him know she was still the same, but she saw the pity lingering in his eyes. She looked away from him as Edmund Wagner, lieutenant and pilot of crew B, stood up and leant against the small desk standing in front of the room.

“Good morning, ladies and gentleman. Time check.”

Automatically, Quinn shoved back her sleeve to check her watch. She looked up and saw Rachel sitting in the front row, as were Jackie Brands and Joyce Reece.

“And top. CO.”

The tall German pilot walked back to his chair. Just before he sat down, he winked at her and smiled. She grinned back at him and glanced at the CO.

“I have some good news for crew A. As of today, you will have a medic in your team. Lieutenant Fabray, welcome back. We are really glad to have you.” He smiled slightly at her and she nodded. She saw the faces of her crew turn to her, as well did Rachel. Her eyes were big of surprise and Quinn just grinned at her. “Meteo.”

Joyce stood up and ran through the weather forecast. As far as Quinn could see it, there was nothing special. A nice temperature and a friendly sun. After Joyce finished, a tall dark man stood up.

“The program of today. Crew B under command of lieutenant Wagner is stand by until twelve o’clock this afternoon. Crew A takes over the stand by until twelve o’clock tomorrow.” He looked up from his paper and glanced briefly at the CO who nodded. “Crew A under command of myself, will have a trainings flight at ten o’clock with our new medic. We’ll have a trainings winch.”

~~~

She felt the glances of the flight engineer, she thought he was called Ned, on her face, but she ignored him. She looked out of the window and saw the landscape glide under her.

“Ned, Fabray, you’re ready?”

The voice of Ferdy made her look up. She saw Ned’s questioning look and realized she was about to do the one thing that frightened her. Hanging on a cable underneath a helicopter.

“I am ready. Ned?” She looked at the flight engineer who nodded. She unbuckled her belt, detached her helmet from the intercom and stood up to walk towards the now open cargo door. She attached the winch on her harness and sat down on the floor, her feet resting on the reeling underneath the chopper. Her eyes slid over the landscape underneath her.

“We can put her there on that small plateau. Fabray, you okay with that?” Rachel asked, looking over her shoulder. Quinn just nodded and took a deep breath.

She felt she got winched up a bit so she got free from the chopper and swung herself outside. For a moment she looked into Ned’s eyes, he smiled reassuring at her. Then she felt she was being lowered towards the plateau. The first meters she had her eyes closed, trying to get used to the feeling she was floating. Then she remembered she had open her eyes, ‘cause she had to direct the pilot towards the landing place. She looked right and saw the plateau coming towards her. As she could see it, Rachel was flying good, there was no need for directions. The plateau came nearer and she felt the rock under her feet. She put up her thumb as she stood steadily and detached the winch cable.

“We’ll flying around the mountain and pick you up again,” Ferdy’s voice sounded through her radio.

“Copy that,” she reacted and watched the helicopter fly away.

She decided to explore the plateau, but soon she found out there wasn’t much to explore. She had to admit, going down again wasn’t as scared as she thought it would be. Actually, it felt really good. She took in the clear air and looked at the landscape around her. Yes, she had missed this. A lot. The sound of the helicopter pulled her attention and watched it came closer to her. For a moment she had a déjà vu and took a deep breath.

_Worriedly Quinn looked at the sleeping, injured woman next to her. Quinn hoped help would come soon, this woman needed to go to the hospital immediately. She gave the woman one last look before she poked her head outside the shield. It looked like the wind had calm down a bit, but was still roaring around the mountain and their improvised shield. Suddenly her attention got pulled up. She squinted, there was really a red spot coming towards them. Rescue was close, they would survive, unlike her crew._

The sound of the helicopter above her pulled her back to the present. She glanced up and saw the winch cable coming down. With one hand she reached to it and grabbed it out of the air. With an automatic movement she attached the cable on her harness and waved at Ned. The cable pulled and she felt she got free from the ground. A smile crept up her face, she was home again.

“Welcome back on board, Quinn,” Rachel said through the intercom as soon as Quinn connected her helmet to the intercom.

“Thanks, Ma..Berry,” Quinn answered and glanced at the front.

“We’re going to take a detour. There are a three hikers missing, we’re going to help,” Rachel informed her and looked briefly over her shoulder. For a moment their eyes met each other, than Rachel looked back.

Focusing on the task on hand, Quinn looked outside. She felt the adrenaline kick in like she used to feel before a call out. It was a different rush then she felt whenever an ambulance would pull in the ambulance bay, this was way more intense. She remembered the many times she flew out like this, a small smile crept up her face.

“This is the RMT 04 for Roswell base. Over.”

Rachel’s voice pulled the blond back to the present. She looked up front, from her spot she could see Rachel’s shoulder. Quinn wondered how Rachel ended up as a co-pilot, Quinn knew how much the diva desired for Broadway.

_“Roswell Base for RMT 04. What’s your ETA? Over.”_

“2 to 3 minutes. What’s the status there? Over.”

The helicopter made a gentle slight to the left, if Quinn saw it right they were heading to the south. Her experience learned that on the south side of the Rockies were dangerous cliffs.

_“The ground team stranded about 2 kilometers from the spot where the hikers were signaled. Looks like you’re on your own. Over.”_

“Great,” Rachel said, she sounded rather depressive.

After two more minutes they landed on the spot where the hikers where spotted. Quinn saw two tents and the remainder of a fire.

“Okay, we’re going to split,” Ferdy said; he radiated authority. “Berry, you go with Fabray. Fabray, you know the area?” he asked, his eyes met hers. Although he looked tough and someone you wouldn’t mess with, Quinn immediately liked him.

“Yes, I do.”

Ferdy nodded and unfolded a map. With the four of them they bowed over it. Ferdy pointed at the spot they were now.

“There are two sections they can be. This one and this one. Berry and Fabray, you take the first section, we do the second.”

They set their radio’s and went off into the wilderness, on the look for the lost hikers.

~~~

With the two of them, Quinn and Rachel strode through the bushes. Quinn walked slightly behind the former diva, just to take her in. Quinn noticed Rachel cut her hair, really short.

“Rachel, where did your hair go?” the blonde asked, she knew how fond Rachel was of her hair.

“I left it with the barber,” Rachel answered dryly and checked the map quickly. The blonde chuckled and looked around her, trying to recognize the area they were in. “Come, this way.”

Quinn looked up and saw Rachel had turned right. Quickly she followed her and came walking next to Rachel. Quinn realized there was something else different about Rachel, she wasn’t rambling about random things like she used to high school.

“So, why did you cut your hair?” Quinn asked, still curious.

“It wasn’t practical with this job. I mean, a helmet is a killer for your hair,” Rachel answered and smiled slightly at Quinn.

“True.” Quinn remembered the times Jaidy was cursing at her hair.

In silence the two women hiked further in search for the lost hikers. After an hour of hiking, they decided to rest for a few minutes. Rachel sat down on a fallen tree stump, Quinn took her bottle out of her backpack. She took a zip while looking around. Sudden realization hit her when she saw where they were. She put away her bottle and turned to Rachel.

“I know where they are,” she said excitedly and held her hand out to Rachel, who looked up surprised.

“Where?”

“There is this peak, it’s very popular by hikers. It’s called Devil’s Peak,” Quinn explained.

“You sure?” Rachel asked, she had heard about this peak and had hoped she wouldn’t have to go rescue someone up there.

“Positive. Come on.”

Rachel grabbed Quinn’s hand and stood up. At the moment they touched it was like there was an electric shock between them and they stared at each other. After what seemed ages, Rachel let go of the blonde’s hand.

“You coming?”

Rachel was standing a few feet away, looking back at the confused blonde.

“Yeah.”

They reached the peak and looked down. Halfway where the three hikers laying on a ledge, without any sign of ropes. Only one seemed to be moving, the other two weren’t moving.

“Are they idiots?” Quinn stated when she didn’t see the ropes. Apparently the hikers went down without any ropes.

“Uh, I think so…” Rachel looked hesitating over the edge, looking a bit pale. Quinn on the other hand was packing out her climbing ropes and attached them to her harness.

“You’re not going to tell me you’re afraid of heights, are you?” Despite the situation, Quinn looked amused at the tiny brunette. Rachel just nodded slightly. “And you’re a pilot?”

“That’s different,” Rachel defended herself and helped the blonde medic with her ropes. Quickly Rachel wrapped the ropes around a tree, so she could handle the ropes when the blonde would go down.

“You gotta explain that to me someday,” Quinn said and walked to the edge. She stood backwards to the depth and looked at Rachel.

“I’ve got you,” she assured the blonde. Quinn nodded and jumped of the edge. As quick as she could she lowered herself down towards the ledge. As she reached them, she saw that two hikers were unconscious, the third leant against the rock. He bleed heavily from a wound on his forehead, he was pressing a cloth to his head. Quinn detached the ropes from her harness and quickly checked the wound.

“You’ll live,” she said and turned her attention to one of the unconscious men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> * Loser Like Me - Glee


	3. Chapter 3

A bit curious Rachel walked into the hangar. From a distance she watched the blonde medic work with the medical supplies. There were times she wondered what her friend would have become after high school. At the time they had seen each other as rivals but they had been there or each other when needed. After high school they had parted, Rachel had stuck around Lima for a couple of years, but Quinn had moved away right after graduation. In the beginning they mailed, but after a few months it stopped.  

“Are you going to stand and stare there, or are you actually going to do something?”

Quinn had looked up and saw Rachel standing in the middle of the hangar staring at her. The former diva chuckled and walked over to Quinn.

“Sorry. What can I do?” she asked, looking at the medical bags. She didn’t know much about this stuff, but she could fill the bags, if Quinn said what she had to put in it.

“You can fill this one.” Quinn threw a small medical bag at her. Rachel caught it and opened in. On the flap she found a manual of what’s supposed to be in the bag and how many of everything. “You think you can handle it?” Quinn smirked, seeing Rachel’s slightly confused face.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Rachel started to fill the bag, while throwing glances at Quinn. The blonde didn’t look like the HBIC she used to be in high school, though Rachel couldn’t point out what was exactly the difference. Maybe it were Quinn’s eyes, they didn’t light up like they used to. Maybe it was the fact that the blonde hardly laughed, but there hadn’t been a reason to laugh in the few hours they spent.

“How did you end up as a co-pilot, Rach? I thought you were going to be a star on Broadway or something.”

Quinn’s question brought Rachel back to the present. She looked up from her work and took a breath.

“That was the planning, until I got problems with my voice. They found polyps on my chords and got surgery. The recovery didn’t go well and my voice never got the same again.” Quinn saw the sadness slid over her face like a shadow. “After I realized my musical days were over, I started searching for other adrenaline pumping jobs,” she smirked. “I met a recruiter from the air force and found something else I loved. Flying. Someday I hope to become a pilot,” she ended her little life story.

“But I heard you sing this morning,” Quinn said confused.

“Yeah, I still can sing, but it’s not good enough for Broadway,” the tiny brunette answered.

“I’m sorry. I know how much you wanted to go to Broadway.”

“Well, I like this job to. Even more than I expected before I started,” Rachel said smiling.

She found Quinn listening interested, a small smile lingered around her mouth. The blonde closed the larger medical bag and took it with her to the helicopter, which stood outside on the field. Rachel quickly finished her filling job and walked after Quinn to the helicopter. With an ease, Quinn jumped into the helicopter and laid the bag on its place. Rachel handed her the smaller bag and leant against the chopper.

“Where did you go after school?” The brunette asked curious, glancing up at Quinn. The blonde sat down on the floor of the chopper and stared at the mountains.

“I went to Harvard, to become a lawyer like my parent planned out for me. But after a few months I realized it wasn’t my thing. I transferred to the medical department to become a doctor. My parents weren’t really fond of that idea, but I didn’t care. I liked it. I graduated and attended to a seminar about paramedics and there I met CO Lincolns. He offered me a job at one of his teams here and I accepted it. At first I was hesitant, but I loved it. I finally had found something I saw myself doing the rest of my life.”

Silence came down between them, both thinking about how they came here. Rachel glanced back at the blonde medic, there was something bothering her.

“Then why did you leave?”

Quinn flinched, she hoped she could get that issue behind her.

“I went to Chicago, to work there.”

The brunette felt that Quinn was avoiding the reason, but she decided not to ask further. She looked at the Rocky Mountains and hoped they would have a call-out, although that would mean someone was in trouble. She couldn’t help but grin, she was ready to do her job.

“Come, I’ll buy you a drink.”

Rachel pushed herself of the chopper and walked towards the building.

“They’re free, Rach,” she heard Quinn say behind her. Rachel just looked grinning over her shoulder, seeing Quinn jumping out of the chopper, slightly smirking.

~~~

The girls came walking out the hangar, talking and laughing. Suddenly the flap doors of the WING-Ops centrum flew open and Jackie practically torpedoed herself on Quinn.

“Fabray! I thought I saw you in the briefing room. Why didn’t you call?” Hyper Jackie jumped around Quinn, making her smile.

“It was a last minute decision. Sorry I didn’t call you, J,” Quinn answered. Jackie suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the centrum.

“We need to catch up!”

A bit helpless and overwhelmed Quinn looked at Rachel, who was laughing at Jackie’s enthusiastic behavior.

“I think we have to have that drink another time,” she said before disappearing through the doors.

Smirking Rachel walked into the bar, where she found her crew. The other crew was nowhere to be seen.  Still with her head in the conversation she just had with Quinn, she sat down next to Ned.

“What do you think of the newbie?” he asked.

“Well, I’m glad she’s here. Now we can fly properly,” Steve, his brother, stated and smirked.

“It’s not only about flying, Steve,” Ferdy said calmly. “But what do you think about her, Berry?” he asked, with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“She’s changed and she’s not that new, as I understood,” she said mysteriously, not completely into the conversation yet. Her mind was still with the blonde who used to make her life hell. Of course, she had told her how she got here, but not how she had changed so much. Yes, she was still tough, but something in her was different. Rachel remembered their time at McKinley and whenever Quinn had smiled, her whole face would light up. Here she had seen Quinn rarely smile, and the times she did, it wasn’t the same as then.

“Rachel, what do you mean?” Ned’s curious voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Well, she used to work here before as a medic, according to Joyce,” she said.

“Actually, we meant what do you mean, she’s changed?” Steve hooked in, leaning forward. He loved gossip.

“I know her from high school.”

“And you only mention that now?” Steve exclaimed, looking surprised and curious at the same time.

“I didn’t realize it was important,” Rachel smirked at him. “Of course I haven’t a clue if she’s good at her job. I do know she’s quite a climber, which is very important for this job. And I think she’s good at her job, otherwise the CO wouldn’t have hired her.”

None of them had noticed the blonde medic, who leant against the doorpost. Her eyes were glued at the tiny brunette and was glad to notice Rachel hadn’t lost her touch at rambling.

~~~

Whistling a familiar melody, Rachel hung upside down into the engine room of the chopper. Her hands were dirty black of the oil and it would be probably all over her face. She didn’t care, she loved it. Back in the days she would have mind and would’ve run off to the closest bathroom. She grinned at the thought, she really was innocent and annoying at high school.

_Hey, you, over there_

_Keep the L above in the air_ _  
_ _Hey, you, over there_ _  
_ _Keep the L up, ’cause I don’t care_ _  
_ _You can throw your sticks,_ _  
_ _and you can throw your stones_ _  
_ _Like a rocket, just watch me go_ _  
_ _Yeah, L-O-S-E-R_ _  
_ _I can only be who I are_ _  
_ _  
_ _Just go ahead and hate on me and run your mouth_ _  
_ _So everyone can hear_ _  
_ _Hit me with the worst you got and knock me down_ _  
_ _Baby, I don’t care_ _  
_ _Keep it up, and soon enough you'll figure out_ _  
_ _  
_ _You wanna be_ _  
_ _You wanna be_ _  
_ _A loser like me_   
A loser like me

 

“I can’t believe you’re still singing that song.”

The husky voice behind her made her pull her head out of the engine room.  Leaning against the chopper and glancing inside, stood Quinn. Rachel smirked and wiped her hands on an old cloth.

“It’s kinda stuck in my head,” she said.

“No kidding. It’s a good song,” Quinn added and a small smile crept up.

Only now Rachel could see why Quinn wasn’t the same Quinn anymore. She did smile, but her face stayed the same, didn’t light up like it used to. Rachel felt the curiosity creep up in her stomach, but she kept her mouth shut. Over the years she had learned to think before to speak. Rachel sat down on the floor of the chopper, her legs dangling over the edge. She looked up to the taller girl and caught the blonde staring over the mountains and for a moment she saw the sadness in Quinn’s hazel eyes.

“So, how is it to be back?” she asked softly.

Quinn was quiet for some time and Rachel was afraid the blonde hadn’t heard her. But then Quinn looked back, a slight hint of sadness lingering in her eyes.

“Good and weird,” Quinn admitted and was surprised she did it to Rachel. Apparently she felt comfortable enough around the tiny brunette.

“Can I ask…why it is weird?”

Quinn looked away from Rachel as memories flood into her head…

_Hiding underneath a table, Quinn lay waiting for Jaidy to enter the dark and seemingly empty bar. Next to her lay Ralf, trying to keep his laughter back._

_“She’s gonna love it,” he whispered and Quinn could hear his smirk._

_“You think? You send her out, in the dark and rain, to check the alarm bells? She’s going to be furious. Especially when there’s nothing wrong with them,” Quinn predicted, but she knew Jaidy would forget about it as she would see the surprise._

_Jaidy’s swearing was the first thing to reach them._

_“Where is that son of a bitch? I’m gonna kill him!”_

_“Told you,” Quinn whispered and smirked._

_Angry footsteps came towards the bar and finally stood still in the doorway._

_“Where are you, ass?” Jaidy’s voice sounded hard through the empty bar._

_Suddenly the light went on and everyone jumped out of their hiding places. Jaidy’s eyes went wide as she saw the huge cake on the table. On top of the cake stood a helicopter and the number 300. Quinn had looked at the administration and saw Jaidy had reach 300 fly hours._

_“Happy 300_ _th_ _!” everyone yelled and jumped around her neck._

_“Who did the administration?” she asked astonished._

_“I did.”_

_Quinn stepped from behind Ralf and hugged her._

_“I knew it,” Jaidy grinned and pulled a knife out of her pocket. Handy, she cut a big piece of the cake and shoved onto a plate. She handed it out and Quinn tried to grab it. “You’re not getting any,” she said jokingly and handed it to Ralf._

_“But Ralf send you out in the rain,” the blonde said and pouted._

_Jaidy looked from Quinn to Ralf, who was about to take a bite when the plate got ripped out of his hand._

_“Hey,” he protested._

_The Latina handed the plate to Quinn. “It’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have sent me out in the rain.”_

_Ralf pouted as Jaidy handed everyone else a piece of cake, but smiled as he got the last piece…_

“Quinn? What’s wrong?”

The soft voice pulled her out her memories. Rachel had come standing next to her and softly placed one hand on her back. Quinn felt the warmth radiate all over her back. It was only when Rachel softly wiped away a tear of her cheek, Quinn noticed she had started crying.

“Nothing,” she said, hearing her voice breaking.

“You sure?”

Quinn nodded, not able to answer. The memories she had hidden so well, were all floating freely through her head. She tried to push them back behind the boxes she made for them. It took a few minutes for her to pull herself together, but then she turned her face back to Rachel.

“I’m fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She smiled at Rachel and walked away. She could feel Rachel confusion, but she didn’t turn around.

“But, your shift didn’t end yet,” Rachel protested as she watched the blonde walk away.

Quinn ignored Rachel and practically ran to her car, started it and drove off. After two turns, she had to stop the car because her hands were shaking so badly, she couldn’t keep her car straight on the road. There, next to the road and with a sight over the Rockies, she broke down like she never had. Everything she had hidden came flushing out, the pain, the grief, the loneliness, and the anger, everything she had cramped inside. She barely could breath as the emotions rushed through her shaking body. She didn’t notice the door on her side opened. She didn’t notice the shocked face that stared down at her. It was only when two strong, but soft and warm arms were wrapped around her, she was aware she wasn’t alone. She looked up, but couldn’t see much due to the tears streaming down her face. All she could make out was the smell. She smelt a flaw of strawberry and sugar.

“It’s okay. Come.”

The voice above her sounded really familiar, but her head was too clouded with emotions and memories to really recognize it. She felt her body pulled out of the car and dragged towards the ground. She grabbed the person who held her tightly and buried her face in the shoulder. She cried everything she had, meanwhile feeling strokes along her back. After what seemed hours, she finally calmed down a bit. It was only when she looked up to her comforter, who had been stroking her back all the time, she recognized her.

“Rachel?” she choked out.

“Sssh, it’s okay,” the brunette cooed softly.

Quinn tried to get up, noticing it had gotten dark. As she stood, she felt dizzy immediately. She felt she was falling back to the ground, as the two strong, but soft and warm arms caught her. Heavily she leant on Rachel and somewhere in the back of her mind she hoped she wouldn’t break the tiny brunette.

“Let’s get you home, shall we?”

Rachel leaded her to her car and helped her in the passenger seat. With exhausted eyes, Quinn followed the figure to the other side to the car. Rachel stepped in, started the car and drove off. Quinn looked aside and watched the brunette drive. As she glanced, her eyelids got heavy and after a few moments wrestling with them, she just closed them. Her entire body felt heavy, like she had swallowed lead or something. As soon as she closed her eyes, the memories came back. But this time it was different, she felt the wounds in her inner side got ripped open once again. In a reflex she wrapped her arms around her torso, in an attempt to keep herself together.

“Quinn? We’re here.”

She heard the voice from far away and screwed her eyes open. The first thing she saw was that Rachel was gone. Panic filled her up and wildly she looked around. Finally she found her on the other side of her, outside the door. She had stretched one arm out to Quinn. Carefully, the blonde removed on arm from her torso and took Rachel hand. Rachel helped her out of the car and laid her arm across her shoulders. Her free arm she wrapped around Quinn’s wrist and walked her to the house. In front of the front door, the tiny brunette stretched her arm out to the ledge above the door and groped for the key. She grabbed it and opened the door. She led the broken blonde through the dark up the stairs and walked into the master bedroom. Rachel sat down the blonde and put on the bed lamp. Quinn squinted against the light, it was too bright. The co-pilot helped Quinn out of her clothes and found a pair of pajamas in the closet. She gave them to Quinn and waited until the blonde had put them on. Rachel helped Quinn under the sheets and watched her fall asleep.

“I’m sorry,” she heard Quinn mumble and a smile crept up her face. Finally, Quinn’s face relaxed and her breathing got shallower. Softly, Rachel walked out of the room, closing the door behind her…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs in this chapter:
> 
> * Loser Like Me (Glee)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, reviewing and leaving kudo's! I really appreciate them, they light up my day ;)

The cool air brushed against Rachel’s face, but this time she didn’t really notice. She was on her way to work, which had turned into real work. As she approached the base, she found herself automatically searching for Quinn’s car. She was a bit disappointed when she didn’t see it. With her helmet in her hand, she walked inside.

“Morning, Rachel,” Joyce greeted her warmly.

“Morning,” Rachel smiled back and made her way to the bar as Joyce stopped her.

“Rachel.”

Rachel turned and walked back to the desk, Joyce was leaning on it. With one arm Rachel leant on the desk, looking up at the redhead.

“Yes?”

“Was everything all right with Quinn last night?”

“I don’t know exactly. I found her in her car next to the road, crying. Joyce, what the hell happened to her?” Rachel asked, she was really worried about the blonde after last night.

“A lot, Rae, but it’s not my place to tell.” Awkwardly, Joyce backed up a bit, looking sorrowful.

Rachel nodded and looked down. “It’s okay, I get it. It’s just, she looked so fuckin’ broken.” Joyce just nodded, still with the sorrowful look in her eyes, she knew Quinn was broken. “Well, I’m going to check if my crew is awake yet,” Rachel said jokingly and walked into the bar.

“One good morning, fellow pilot,” Ferdy greeted her and smiled at her.

“Good morning.”

She sat down, observing her crew. Steve was laying on the couch, yawning loudly. Ned sat in a lazy chair, his eyes closed. Only Ferdy seemed to be wide awake.

“Where were you last night? We had to call in the other crew, because you and Fabray went AWOL,” Ferdy asked quietly, looking worriedly up at her.

“O shit, we had a call out?”

“Yeah, around ten.”

“Shit. I’m really sorry, Ferdy. Quinn…didn’t feel well, so I brought her home.”

“Is she okay?”

“I don’t know.”

Rachel bowed her head, she had been wondering the same thing the entire night. She thought of the moment she had found Quinn in the car. She didn’t know why she had followed the blonde after their conversation, but she did. When she found the car parked next to the road, she was scared Quinn had an accident. But what she found in the car, was completely horrifying. Quinn was crying so hard, Rachel was afraid the blonde would be dehydrating. The entire night Rachel hadn’t been able to forget the sight of a crying and broken Quinn.

“Berry, you coming? The briefing is about to start,” Steve pulled her out of her thought.

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

She stood up and walked after her crew. She walked into the briefing room, finding the blonde medic sitting in the back in the room. She didn’t look broken at all, perhaps a bit exhausted. Their eyes met briefly and Rachel smiled at her. She heard the CO come in and quickly she walked to her seat next to Ferdy. She sat down and listened with half an ear to the briefing. She wasn’t able to look at Quinn at the moment, but she remembered the look on her face when she entered. Although she hadn’t looked broken, she still had that broken look in her eyes. If you didn’t pay attention to it, it was easy to miss. But Rachel knew it was there and she had seen it. At that moment, right in the middle of the briefing, she promised herself to do everything to fix the blonde.

“How did you know where I lived?”

Startled, Rachel looked aside, noticing the briefing room was empty. Next to her stood Quinn, her hand leaning on the back of Rachel’s chair and the other hand on the table before Rachel. Quinn had a hard look in her eyes, her mouth was a tight stripe.

“While driving, I called Joyce. She told me where you lived and where to find the key.”

Quinn squinted, nodded and let go of Rachel’s chair. She walked down the remaining steps and made her way to the door. Rachel watched her go flabbergasted. The sight of Quinn walking away, woke her up and she jumped to her feet. As soon as she had reached the blonde she grabbed Quinn’s arm to make her stop. Quinn turned around, her eyes still hard.

“Quinn, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Rachel let go of her arm, suddenly scared of the hard look in Quinn’s eyes. Suddenly they softened a bit and Quinn closed in on Rachel, looking down on the tiny co-pilot. The sadness had returned in her eyes. “Thanks for last night. I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone.”

“I..I won’t,” Rachel stuttered.

Quinn just nodded and walked down the stairs. Rachel stared after her and leaned against the brick wall. The hard look in Quinn’s eyes had scared her to her bones. She knew what was going on, she had gotten too close to her last night, she had seen her vulnerable. And now Quinn was pushing her away. She couldn’t stop the sudden stream of tears. It hurt so much, it took her breath away. Rachel knew where this was coming from. From the first time they had met at high school, she had been secretly in love with the blonde, even when she was in her bitchy mode. But she had told herself it wouldn’t be possible, seeing Quinn was dating Finn and later on Puck and Sam. After high school she had distracted herself from Quinn by having flings and a few relationships with other women. But stupid enough they all had one thing in common, they were all blonde. And now Quinn had showed up here in Roswell as her medic and obvious in need of her comfort last night, Rachel had started to hope. To hope on something she had hoped for so long. Hoping for the love of the blonde.

~~~

With hard, big steps Quinn walked into the hangar. She felt so freakin’ embarrassed about last night. How could she had lost her nerve so quickly and easy with Rachel? She remembered sitting in the grass for hours, bawling her eyes out in the arms of Man Hands. With angry movements, Quinn pulled out the medical supplies and started filling the medical bags. And if it wasn’t enough, Daniel had reprimanded her for leaving way too early from her shift. She had felt so unprofessional. 

“Here you are.” Quinn turned as she heard Jackie’s voice behind her. “I thought I saw you marching this way. What is this, your therapeutic space?” she joked.

Quinn smirked and looked at the ground. “Something like that.”

“Q, are you alright?”

Jackie’s voice sounded worried and she tried to catch Quinn’s eyes. Finally, Quinn looked up with tear filled eyes.

“Not really, J.”

Jackie stepped forward and wrapped the blonde in her arms, feeling her body shake involuntarily. She felt the pain Quinn was feeling, she knew what she was going through.

“It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay,” she cooed.

Quinn broke away from the embrace and wiped away her tears.

“I feel so stupid,” she confessed, she knew she could trust Jackie.

“Why?”

“Last night. I had this conversation with Rachel and she asked how it felt to be back here. I was way too honest by answering that it felt weird. Of course she asked why. Since I’ve been here, she’s so nice to me, while I was so horrible to her in high school. And to make things worse, she found me broken down in my car and brought me home.”

The words just flooded out of her mouth, without even stopping to breathe.

“Is that a bad thing? To have someone who cares?” Jackie questioned softly.

“Yes,” Quinn suddenly snapped and grabbed the medical bag of the table. She walked past Jackie out of the hangar. Jackie followed her quickly. “Every time someone cares for me, they die,” she choked out.

Jackie grabbed her hand to make her stand still. The black haired woman looked into her eyes.

“That happened one time, Quinn.”

“One time too much.” Quinn felt the treating tears burn behind her eyes, but refused to let them out. “I miss her so much.” Her voice broke at the last word.

Once again Jackie took Quinn into her arms, feeling tears stream down her face too.

“I know you do,” she choked.

Both of them didn’t notice the silent figure behind the glass who was staring at them. She had a worried look in her eyes…

~~~

The adrenaline rushed through her veins as the chopper made its way through the thin air. Not even fifteen minutes ago they got a call out of somebody hanging on a thread on a cliff.

 

“I have a visual at two o’clock,” Ferdy suddenly said and Quinn looked out the window behind her. She saw someone hanging over the ledge on a rope. He or she, Quinn couldn’t see from this far, was waving at them. Quinn moved from her seat to the cargo door and hooked herself on the winch. She was about to hook off the intercom of her helmet as Rachel turned around and faced her.

“You’d be careful off the fall winds? They’re being tricky,” she said concerned.

“I know, I’ve done this before, remember?” Quinn smirked back and hooked off the intercom.

She smiled reassuring at the tiny brunette and sat down on the floor. Quinn looked outside and soon she had the figure hanging on the rope in sight. It was a woman who was screaming loudly at them. Ned held up his thump as he winched her up and Quinn swung herself outside the chopper. She felt herself lower and gave directions to Ferdy.

“Help! Please, help me!” she heard the woman cry. The woman tried to reach Quinn, by swinging towards her. Suddenly the rope slipped a bit down and the woman cried out loud.

“Keep hanging still. I’m coming,” Quinn yelled and immediately the woman clung on to the rope and tried to hang as still as she could.

Quinn estimated the distance and decided to swing to a really small ledge just above the woman. She stretched out her arm and felt the chopper move a bit. She swung herself towards the ledge and missed several times.

“Damn it,” she swore as she grabbed her radio. “Ned, winch me up a bit,” she yelled in the radio.

She felt she lifted a bit and tried again. Now she could grab the ledge and hung on to it. She grabbed the woman’s rope and secured it first.

“I secured you, hang on, okay? Can you tell me your name?” she said to the woman who hung just inches beneath her.

“J-j-Janice,” the woman answered.

“Okay, Janice. I’m Quinn. I’m going to get you out of this, okay?”

The woman just nodded quietly, tears were streaming down her face.

“Ned, can you give me a bit of length? I’m going to climb down to grab her,” Quinn said in the radio, looking down at the woman and smiled at her.

_ “Yep, hang on,”  _ Ned replied.

She felt she had more length and started to climb down towards the woman. With one hand she kept holding on to the ledge, while with the other she reached for the woman.

“Give me your hand, I’ll pull you up.” The woman looked really scared up at her and shook quietly her head. “Come on. I won’t let you fall.”

“I can’t,” the woman squeaked and moved a bit so Quinn could see the blood on the woman’s arm. Her arm was tangled up in the rope and the rope was cutting into her arm.

“Shit,” Quinn mumbled.

She looked down to see if she could place her foot a bit lower so she could let go of the ledge. All she found was polished rock. Suddenly her eye fell on a piece of rock that stuck out. It was small and Quinn wasn’t sure if it could hold her, or both of them for that matter. She had to take the risk, if it didn’t hold her, she at least hung on a line. She had to help this woman and fast. The longer she hung like this, the more chance the woman had on an amputation. Carefully, Quinn moved her weight down and with her toes she touched the rock. It didn’t move, but little pieces of rocks were falling down into the depths. Really slowly, she let go of the ledge above her and leant with all her weight on the rock.

“Please hold,” she prayed quietly.

Now she was in a good position to reach the woman and careful she got hold of the extra harness.

“Okay, Janice. I’m going to reach behind you and wrap this harness around your waist, okay?”

“Okay,” Janice choked.

“It’s going to be fine, just keep holding on.”

Quinn reached behind the woman’s back and slid one side of the harness between the woman and the rock. The woman yelled out of agony, she got pulled down a bit.

“Please, hurry,” she cried.

With a click, Quinn attached the woman to her own harness.

“I got you. I’m going to cut the rope now.”

Out of her pocket, Quinn reached for her pocket knife and cut the rope just above Janice’s arm. The rope got loose and fell down. Janice let her arm hung down, but Quinn quickly put it up again.

“Keep it high, okay?”

Janice nodded. At that moment the rock underneath them started to shift and crumble. Quinn motioned to Ned to pull them up. Just as her feet left the rock, the rock crumbled down and fell into the depths. Soon they were in the safety of the chopper, Ned helped Janice lay down on the stretcher.

“We need to get to the hospital,” Quinn said as soon as her intercom was connected.

“We’re on our way, we’ll be there in ten minutes,” Rachel replied and Quinn felt the chopper made a turn. She bowed over Janice, who was more or less unconscious. 

“Make it five,” Quinn growled softly.

~~~

“Will you never ever do that again?”

Angrily, Rachel stood behind Quinn who was working with the ropes. A bit confused, Quinn turned to face the tiny brunette.

“Do what?”

“Bring yourself in danger like you did.”

With fierce eyes, Rachel looked up to the taller blonde, who just smirked at her.

“Look, I knew what I was doing.”

“Really? With those winds you could’ve been crushed.”

“That didn’t happen, did it?”

“No, but still… Don’t do that again,” Rachel ended softer, looking up worried at Quinn.

Quinn briefly closed her eyes and tossed away the cleaned ropes into the storeroom. This conversation called up unwanted memories.

“I know what I’m doing. So don’t stand there and tell me how to do my job, Man Hands.”

She saw the words hit hard with Rachel. Without speaking another word, Rachel turned on her heels and walked away. Quinn sank onto the floor, leaning her back against the door of the storeroom. She buried her head in her hands. She really didn’t mean to hurt Rachel, but she had to get rid of her. The words Rachel spoke, looked a lot like Jaidy’s words…

_ “What the hell were you thinking?” _

_ Surprised Quinn turned to Jaidy, who was looking furious. _

_ “Excuse me?” _

_ “That stunt you pulled this morning. You could’ve been killed!” _

_ Quinn smirked at the Latina’s pissed off face and pecked her cheek softly. _

_ “I knew what I was doing, sweetie,” she said and turned back to her work. _

_ “Quinn, just don’t do that ever again, okay?” _

_ “Okay, I’ll try. But you have to understand, if I hadn’t done it, that girl would’ve lost her leg.” _

_ Jaidy leant next to her against the storeroom, looking aside at the blonde medic. _

_ “I know, and you did good, but still…” her voice trailed off as she looked away. _

_ Quinn placed her hand on Jaidy’s chin and lifted her head so she could look into her eyes. _

_ “I will be careful, I promise…” _

Quinn had started crying involuntarily, the memory of Jaidy was too hard to bear. She knew she was alone, so she let herself go. When she had come back, she had known it would be hard, but she didn’t know if she could keep going like this. Maybe she should’ve listened to herself, she couldn’t work like this. Shaking, she took in a few breathes to calm herself. She gave herself a mental kick, of course she could work, this was all she lived for. But still, walking around here and missing the people she really wanted to see was hard. Wiping away the tears she stared outside to the chopper. A single tear slipped her eye as she tried to lock the memories away. She didn’t see the broad figure standing in the doorway, who looked sympathetic at her.

~~~

Rachel was sitting in the grass next to the building, she looked out over the mountains she loved so much. Quinn’s words had hit her  hard and she had barely been capable of keeping the tears in, until she was here. Now had the tears dried up and was she wondering what she could do to help the blonde. It was obvious Quinn was hurt in a bad way. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to get it out of Joyce.

“Here you are.”

Rachel looked up and saw Jessica Ferrer approaching with two glasses filled with juice. She came sitting next to Rachel and handed her a glass.

“Thanks.”

The two girls sat in silence, staring into the distance. At least, Rachel was. Jessica was staring at Rachel with a curious and worried look.

“So, what’s going on? You look upset,” she finally asked and took a sip of her juice.

Rachel putted down the glass and sighed.

“Quinn. We argued just now.”

“You argued with Quinn Fabray? Wow.” Jessica sounded impressed and the tiny brunette smirked.

“She won.”

“Of course she did. She’s Quinn Fabray.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Rachel looked back at the mountains and frowned. What Quinn had said didn’t hurt as much as it did in high school, by now she was used to the name. It was more the way she said it. The tiny co-pilot took her glass and took a sip.

“Can I ask you something?” Rachel looked aside Jessica, who nodded and looked curious. “How well do you know Quinn?”

Jessica fell silence for a moment, clearly thinking about the question.

“Not very well. Of course, we talked and stuff, but we weren’t BFF’s. No, she was that with Jaidy. Some even said it was more than that. I like Quinn, she’s tough, but nice.”

“Who is Jaidy?” Rachel asked curious, the name sounded like a girl’s name.

“You’re replacing her,” Jessica said darkly, her eyes fixed on the mountains. “She was a co-pilot here.”

“What happened?”

“They crashed on the south side. Only Quinn survived.”

Rachel stared at her with open mouth, lost for words. Shocked she let Jessica’s little story sink in. If Jessica was right and Jaidy did mean more to Quinn, then she could understand what the blonde was going through. Well, not quite understand, but she could imagine it.

“Before the crash, Quinn was really nice. She had humor, was nice and was always cheerful.”

“Really? Quinn and humor? When we went to school, she was pretty much a bitch,” Rachel said surprised.

“People can change, Rae,” Jessica said and took her last sip.

“They sure can,” the brunette mumbled.

Jessica stood up and looked down at Rachel, she frowned and bit her lip.

“Look, Rae,” Rachel looked up at hearing the serious tone in Jessica’s voice. “I don’t know what happened between you and Quinn, but be careful with her, okay? She’s been through a lot.”

“I will,” Rachel answered serious.

Jessica nodded and walked off. Rachel stared back at the mountains. Sure, she would be careful with the blonde medic, if only Quinn wouldn’t push her away. She understood Quinn had been through a lot, surviving a crash is not nothing, especially if you lost someone you liked. She could quite understand that. Determined, Rachel stood up. She would do anything to make Quinn love again. She really wanted to meet the Quinn she’d become after high school. Rachel shot one last look on the mountains she loved and walked back inside, intended to start reach her new goal as soon as she could.

~~~

She was half way into her shift as Quinn walked into the WING-OP centrum. Jackie was busy checking out the weather for the next day, as Quinn leaned on the desk.

“J?”

Now Jackie looked up and startled as she saw Quinn’s red eyes and sorrowful look on her face. She quickly abandoned the weather and came standing next to Quinn. Worried, she wrapped an arm around the blonde who looked like she could start to cry at any second.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Jackie asked quietly.

“I screwed up. Again.”

“What do you mean? Come, sit down.”

She took Quinn behind the desk and made her sit down on a chair. She herself knelt down before Quinn, taking her hands in hers.

“Rachel. I…I called her names. Names I used back in high school. The pain in her eyes. I just can’t…” Quinn voice broke, she really hated herself now for calling Rachel that. The brunette hadn’t deserved in, not at all. She had deserved to get called names, not Rachel. Rachel, who had been so kind to her since she arrived her. Rachel, who had taken care of her when she couldn’t. Rachel, who hadn’t even recalled their time at high school.

“Why don’t you tell what happened?”

Quinn took a deep breath, forcing the tears back.

“She called me out on our call out this afternoon. I know, it was risky what I was doing, but I knew what I was doing. Then, suddenly she asked if I would do that never again with that nice, soft voice of hers. I remembered Jaidy had asked me the same once too and I just got rude to Rachel, just to get her out of the way. I didn’t want her to see me cry again. She didn’t have to see it,” Quinn told her best friend, a single tear rolled down on her cheek. Jackie softly wiped it away with her finger. “I just hate myself for calling her the name she hates the most. Man Hands.”

“Man Hands? How did you come up with that name? She has really delicate hands,” Jackie exclaimed curious.

Quinn chuckled at Jackie’s defence.

“I don’t know. I think I was just jealous at her. She had Finn, was the best singer and had the most chance of becoming a star. I wanted all of that too, except for Finn. You like her, don’t you?”

Jackie hesitated for a second. “Yeah. First I was hesitant, she reminded me of Jaidy. But somewhere on the way, she grew on my. She’s really nice and kind.”

“Yeah, she is. Always has been, actually. Yes, she acted like a diva back at school, but she was always nice,” Quinn remembered.

Jackie smiled and stood up. She looked down at the blonde medic, who was staring blankly at the computer screen.

“You need to make up with her,” she stated, making Quinn look up.

“I know and I will.”

“Good. Now, get out of my chair, I’ve got work to do,” the black haired WING-OP said jokingly.

Quinn grinned and stood up from the chair.

“There you go, majesty,” she smirked and walked around the desk. “Hey, J?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Jackie just smiled. Feeling slightly better, Quinn walked out of the WING-OP centrum.

~~~

Rachel walked to her mountain bike at the end of her shift. She was exhausted. They had had three more call outs, one was for a moron who had let on his fire and two were in serious trouble in the woods. But still she couldn’t figure out why people went into the mountains at eleven in the evening.

“See you tomorrow, Rachel.”

Steve walked passed her to his car.

“See you tomorrow, Steve,” she greeted him and putted on her helmet.

She just loved riding her bike. Of course, she could drive a car, but she preferred her bike. It was way healthier, and this way she could keep up her condition. She stepped onto her bike as a figure came out of the dark of the building and walked towards her.

“Rachel?”


	5. Chapter 5

Surprised, Rachel turned around to face the figure in the shadow. She frowned as she saw who it was.

“Quinn? What are you doing there?” she asked curious.

“I was waiting for you.” Quinn walked up to the tiny brunette and stopped next to her. She met Rachel’s questioning look and sighed. “I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have said it.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Rachel agreed and felt anger boil up.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay?”

“I don’t know if I can forgive you that easily. You called me that back in high school,” Rachel suddenly spat. Quinn stared at her with big eyes, a little taken aback by the outburst.

“I…I’m sorry for that too, I’m terribly sorry. I was a confused teenager back then,” the blonde confused quietly.

“So was I, but you never heard me calling names. People say you’ve changed, but to me you haven’t changed even a bit.”

Shocked Quinn looked up at the angry co-pilot who didn’t look tiny at all anymore. Slowly, Quinn took a few steps back, still her eyes fixed on Rachel.

“I’m just trying to say I’m sorry,” Quinn mumbled shyly.

“A little too late.”

Rachel stepped on her bike and raced off. Flabbergasted Quinn looked after the dissapearing brunette. She had never seen her so angry. It felt like she was slapped across the face, but in a way she felt she deserved it. She’d been horrible, even now when they were supposed to work together. 

“And, did you apologize?”

Jackie had come standing next to her, looking questioning at Quinn’s confused face. Quinn sighed deeply and turned to Jackie.

“I did.”

“And?”

“She got angry. She blamed me for still being the same bitch. And you know, she right,” Quinn said, her voice broke. “I really wanted to make it up to her, but I guess I’m too late, just like she said.”

“Give her some time. I think she’s having a hard time having you around,” Jackie suggested and walked to her car. Quinn followed her and leant against her car.

“I just don’t get it. She was so nice the other day and now… I told you before, I deserve having Rachel yelling at me, but it doesn’t make sense to me,” the blonde wondered out loud and stared off in the darkness.

“Sweetie, I don’t know either. Give her some time.”

Quinn nodded quietly. Jackie stepped in her car and poked her head out of the window.

“Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Quinn watched as Jackie drove off. She sighed and stepped in her car as well. She started her car and drove off.

~~~

Like an idiot, Rachel raced down into the town. What the hell was she thinking, bursting out like that at Quinn? The blonde was making apologies and she just started yelling. She hated the things she said to the blonde medic and saw them hit home. How was she going to convince Quinn she wanted to help her? To fix her? Rachel shook her head and threw her bike in the bike rack in front of her apartment. She grabbed her keys and entered her apartment. It was small, but it was enough for her. She threw the keys on the table and took off her overall. In just her underwear she walked to her bedroom and pulled some sweat pants and a plain shirt of the chair. While looking in the mirror, she wondered why she had yelled like that at Quinn. Yes, the name calling had hurt her, but for God’s sake, she was an adult now. She had dealt with the past a long time ago. So, why did it hurt so much again? Deep down, Rachel knew the answer. It had hurt so much, because she simply loved the blonde. Rachel didn’t know if the word love was accurate, but at least she cared for Quinn. She closed her eyes and saw the broken and crying Quinn once again before her eyes. And now she had just made things worse by bursting out. Rachel laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. 

“O, I thought I heard you.”

Jessica had appeared in the doorway. Rachel shared the apartment with Jessica, basically to split the rent, but somewhere down the road they had become friends.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Not at all, I was still awake,” Jessica said and plopped on Rachel’s bed, studying her friends face. Rachel stared back, a bit confused.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the base?”

“Nope. Ned took over my shift. Last weekend I covered for him, so he could go out with Kim.”

Kim was Ned’s girlfriend and she also worked for the airforce. She was pilot of a fighter jet, they couldn’t spend much time due to conflicting schedules.

“Right,” Rachel nodded and stared back at the ceiling.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Rachel squinted, the Italian girl always saw if something was up.

“Quinn tried to apologies to me. I didn’t even let her finish and started yelling at her,” Rachel confessed sadly. She looked over at Jessica, who looked worried.

“Wow. Why did you?”

“I don’t know. I…just started and couldn’t stop. I don’t know what do now. I wanted to help her, not to hurt her,” the brunette said and looked back up at the ceiling. She felt so damn ashamed right now.

“You should make it up to her, like now.”

Rachel shot up, like hit by lighting.

“Are you crazy? That’s like suicide. She doesn’t want to talk to me, especially not after tonight,” Rachel protested and looked a bit shocked at the black haired woman. There was no way in hell she would be talking to Quinn now, she would be furious. 

“Then it will be awkward tomorrow, you still have to work with her.”

Rachel realized Jessica was right, she should make up as soon as possible. And maybe tomorrow, Quinn would’ve calmed down. She looked up as she noticed Jessica was looking meaningful at her.

“What? You mean right now?” Jessica nodded seriously. “But it’s friggin’ midnight,” Rachel protested.

“I think she’ll be awake. And the sooner you do it, the better.”

The brunette knew Jessica was right, so she stood up. Quickly she pulled some clean clothes out of the closet and disappeared in the bathroom. A few minutes later she came back out, wearing jeans and a red t-shirt. 

“Thanks, Jess.”

“Gracie,” Jessica smiled and settled on Rachel’s bed. Rachel looked sarcastically at it.

“I see I’m not sleeping alone tonight?”

Jessica just smirked and shook her head. She waved at Rachel, who rolled her eyes.

“Right. See you later.”

She walked out of the room, back outside.

~~~

After a short drive, Quinn pulled up at her house. Through the windshield, she looked up at the old looking house. It was a cottage completely made of wood and made an ancient impression. Quinn got out of the car and took in the scent of wood. As she walked up to the cottage, she remembered when she and Jaidy first had seen it. Jaidy had been in love with it immediately and they decided to buy it. After she died, Quinn refused to step foot in the house and had stayed with Jackie until she had a job and apartment in Chicago. 

And now she was back. Of course, she had slept here last night, but she couldn’t remember much of that night. She opened the door and stepped inside. She hit the light button and looked around. Everything was just as they left it. 

Slowly, Quinn walked through the house. On the couch laid a forgotten book and on a chair hung Jaidy’s leather jacket. Quinn picked it up and smelled the scent. Tears sprung in her eyes as she noticed it still smelled like Jaidy. Quickly she hung it back and walked further. 

On the table lay an old newspaper, Quinn remembered she had been reading it that day. She picked it up, folded it and threw it in the trashcan. As she walked into the kitchen, she noticed the dishes and dirty plates were gone. She smiled, Jackie or Joyce must have done it. 

Tired, she leant against the sink and closed her eyes. For a second she processed everything, she just didn’t know if she could live her. There were so many more memories in this house then at the base, she just didn’t know if she could do it. 

She knew, she had to face her demons sometime, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready yet. Her psychologist told her to take the time, but not to wait too long. Quinn just hated those people who were vague. She opened her eyes as she heard the doorbell ring. Curious she walked to the front door, wondering who would be outside at her door at this ungodly hour. She opened and the door revealed one Rachel Berry.

“Hi,” she said simply, looking sorrowful.

Quinn just looked confused and a bit sarcastically down at the brunette.

“Look, I understand if you don’t want to see or talk to me, but I really needed to talk to you. You see, the longer I wait, the harder it will get for…”

“Do you want to come in?” Quinn interrupted her and opened the door wider.

Smiling thankfully, Rachel stepped in and looked around. She had been in the cottage before, but last night everything had been dark. She saw the tasteful decoration and recognized Quinn’s style. She followed Quinn into the living room and sat down on a chair, while Quinn sunk into the couch. A silence fell between them, but Quinn didn’t mind. She just liked the company, so she wouldn’t have to face her demons this night. 

“So, you wanted to talk?” she suddenly asked, startling the brunette. A small smile crept up her face, a startled Rachel looked cute.

“Yes. I know it’s late,” Rachel hesitated a bit.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t going to sleep soon anyway,” Quinn answered and leant back. Her eye fell on a picture of her and Jaidy and her breathing stocked a bit. Luckily, Rachel didn’t notice.

“Okay. I wanted to apologize for yelling at you. I don’t know what come over me.”

The blonde observed Rachel for a few moments. She was fiddling with her fingers, clearly nervous. Her eyes were casted down.

“I kind of deserved it,” Quinn suddenly said and stood up. She just couldn’t face that picture anymore. She walked over to the closet where she knew she had hid her stack of scotch. She pulled it out of the closet and grabbed two glasses. One glass she placed on the table before Rachel and poured in. She also poured in for herself and sat down on a chair next to Rachel. “I’ve been horrible to you,” she continued and took a sip. “I was horrible at high school and now I’m horrible again. I should be the one to be sorry,” she ended.

Rachel shook furiously her head. “No, you already apologized tonight. I was just being stupid.”

“You know, I was surprised you only burst out now.”

Rachel frowned surprised.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve been working for two days now. I expected you wouldn’t talk to me at all. Instead, you took me home and put me to bed.” At the last, Quinn chuckled a bit.

“Well, I’ve dealt with my past a long time ago. We’re all adults now, right?”

“Yeah, we are.”

Quinn took another sip. She wished she had dealt with her past, as Rachel put it. But she was afraid that would going to take a while. She emptied her glass and set it down. It was only then, she noticed Rachel hadn’t drunk a sip.

“You still don’t drink?” she asked surprised.

Rachel laughed and shook her head.

“No, that one time at school was more than enough,” she answered laughing.

“Good for you.”

Quinn reached for the bottle to pour in, but Rachel stopped her by catching her wrist.

“You have to fly tomorrow,” the brunette remembered her softly.

Quinn looked at her quietly and realized Rachel was right. She had to be sober tomorrow, but she couldn’t imagine how she could possibly go to sleep like this.

“You’re right. Look, Rachel, I really wish I could start over with you.”

“Why can’t you?”

Quinn looked up surprised.

“You’re okay with that?”

“Of course. The past is the past.”

Quinn nodded and smiled a bit. She stared at the bottle once again, longing for another drink.

“You are so not going to take another glass after I’m gone,” Rachel stated, taking the bottle of the table. 

Amused, Quinn looked up at the tiny brunette.

“And, how are you going to do that exactly?” she asked.

Rachel frowned and suddenly her face lightened up.

“I guess I'll have to take it with me.”

“Who said I don’t have another bottle?” Quinn challenged.

“Quinn, don’t do that,” Rachel said softly. “It’s not worth it.”

“How do you know that? How do you know it isn’t worth it?” Quinn suddenly spat, standing up quickly. Fierce she looked down at the tiny brunette, who sat there with  _ her  _ bottle of scotch in her hand.

“’Cause alcohol isn’t the answer to your problem.” Rachel was surprised at how calm she sounded. She looked up at the fierce looking Quinn and finally she saw a spark of the old Quinn.

“Who said I have a problem?”

“Quinn, I’m not blind.”

“Rachel, just leave it, okay?” Quinn asked desperately.

“No. I have to know if you’re an alcoholic, because you’re flying in my chopper.”

Quinn sunk down on the chair again, with her head in her hands. 

“This was my first drink in months,” she confessed quietly. “I’ve been clean for three months now, but it’s just so freakin’ hard to be here.”

Two arms were suddenly pulled her into a hug and once again Quinn buried her face into Rachel’s shoulders. But this time she was conscious and enjoying the hug. She wrapped her arms around Rachel and cried softly. She wasn’t kidding she couldn’t without a drink. Back in Chicago it had been so easy. There she wasn’t surrounded by all those memories and emptiness. Of course they had been there, but then they were locked secure far in the back of her mind. Now the locks had been broken and the memories had free passes out. 

“I know, but you’re not alone, Quinn,” she heard Rachel whisper.

For a while Quinn held on to the embrace. As soon as she felt calm enough, she broke the contact and looked up at Rachel.

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you please take the rest with you? It’s stacked in that closet.”

Quinn pointed at the closet where she had pulled out the scotch earlier. Rachel stood up.

“Of course.”

She walked to the closet and Quinn listened as Rachel took it all out. She dumped them in a bag and walked back to Quinn. She knelt down and looked up at the broken blonde.

“You’ll be alright?” she asked quietly.

Quinn just nodded, she was too upset to speak.

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rachel placed a soft kiss on Quinn’s temple and left. Quinn stayed behind alone, taking in the emptiness she felt. Still it didn’t hurt as much as before. She knew she wasn’t alone, she knew she had Rachel now…

~~~

The red and yellow chopper soared through the sky early the next morning. Ned yawned loudly, which earned him a disapproval look from Steve.

“Are you awake yet, Ned?” Ferdy asked jokingly.

“It wasn’t me, it was Steve,” Ned protested. Steve took a swing at Ned, but missed.

The bickering between the two brothers completely went by Quinn. She was staring out of the window, being quiet. She thought about last night, how it had been so hard to fall asleep without the alcohol in her body to ease the pain. Finally, at three o’clock she had fallen asleep. She had slept pretty restless, nightmares were haunting her.

“Quinn, are you okay?” she suddenly heard Rachel’s worried voice in her helmet.

“Yeah, just a bit sleepy,” she answered.

“Attention everyone, we have reached the sector were the girl was last seen,” Ferdy informed them.

Quinn looked back outside. The reason they were flying this early, even before the briefing, was a missing girl. She was only seven years old and was last seen in this sector. Unfortunately for them she was wearing cameo clothes, so from up here she was hard to spot. 

“Why didn’t they have her wear a bright yellow shirt or something?” Ned complained, while looking out of the window. 

Quinn moved towards Ned and opened the cargo door. Ned looked at her a bit curious, he was the only one who was supposed to open the door. The blonde smirked at him and knelt down on her knees on the floor.

“This way we have better sight,” she explained and the flight engineer knelt down next to her.

“Good thinking, Fabray,” she heard Ferdy say as they flew across a huge forest.

Ned handed her a pair of binoculars and smiled at her. Behind them was Steve standing, he also was watching through a pair of binoculars. For the next thirty minutes they flew around in the sector without spotting the girl. The other team, who were flying over another section hadn’t seen her either.

“She can’t have gone this far,” Rachel mumbled as she took over the steering from Ferdy.

“Well, it’s hard to know without knowing which direction she went,” Steve noted dryly, checking the infra-red radar. He had given up staring through binoculars as Ferdy had asked him to search with the radar.

“But she’s only seven. How can she know what she’s doing?” Rachel asked and Quinn noticed the co-pilot sounded a bit desperate.

“We’re going to find her,” she said, staring down at a depth underneath them. She really hoped the girl wouldn’t have fallen into one of those. Suddenly her eye caught something down there. She stood up quickly and walked back to Steve.

“Steve, freeze that image and zoom in,” she said urgently, pointing at the screen.

Steve obeyed and quickly froze the image and zoomed in. Quinn swallowed down a lump as she her suspicion came true. She eyed Steve for a second and stood up.

“Ferdy, can you fly back over the ravine?” she asked calmly. “I think we found her.”

“No,” she heard Rachel whisper.

Quinn focused at the task at hand and hooked herself up on the harness. She met Ned’s scared eyes as she came standing next to him. She looked down and saw something small lying on the bottom of the ravine.

“There, at two o’clock,” she pointed.

“I have visual,” she heard Rachel say, she could hear the brunette was trying to stay calm. 

“Are you ready?” Ned asked quietly, they all knew what the blonde medic would find on the bottom of the ravine. Quinn nodded and hooked the intercom off. “There you go.”

Quinn got lowered into the ravine. She looked down as she got closer to the ground. Soon she hit the ground with her feet and released the hook from her harness. She motioned at Ned he could winch up. A few meters away lay the girl, face down. Quickly Quinn ran to the girl and knelt down. The girl lay in a strange position, her legs were clearly broken. The blonde medic pushed her clothing aside and felt the girl’s neck with shaking fingers. The girl’s neck was cold to the touch, which wasn’t a good sign. For at least five minutes Quinn sat there, praying for a pulse. She sighed and leant back as she didn’t feel a pulse. She brushed away the hair from the girls face and saw the many scratches. Quinn stood up and motioned at Ned for the hook. Slowly, the hook was lowered towards her. She grabbed for it and hooked it on her harness. She scooped the girl up in her arms and as they got winched up, the girl’s head fell lifeless backwards...


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, life kind of got in the way ;)
> 
> I would love to hear what you guys think of this story, reviews are always more than welcome ;)  
> Thank you for reading and here is the next chapter!

**Chapter Six**

Sad over the loss of such a young life, Rachel sat in the empty locker room. She had just gotten out of the shower, after she had given the chopper a checkup and had fueled it. By the time she had reached the locker room, her crew had already left the locker room. So she sat alone on the bench, letting the silent tears out. The girl’s parents had been waiting at the base and Quinn had told them the bad news. They had cried out and eventually had taken the girl home. She was always sad if they couldn’t save someone, but this just wasn’t far. 

“Here you are.”

The soft, husky voice made Rachel look up. In the doorway stood Quinn, looking down at her worried.

“Yeah, I had to shower,” the brunette explained and fell silent.

Quinn walked up to her and came sitting next to her on the bench. For a while they sat in silence, both thinking of the little girl. Quinn still could feel the weight in her arms, see the scarred, but beautiful face. She looked aside at Rachel, who had still tears running down. In an impulse, Quinn wrapped her arm around the tiny brunette’s shoulders.

“You okay?” she asked quietly. 

Rachel nodded and wiped away the tears. With sad eyes she looked up at the blonde medic, who looked sympathetically back at her.

“It’s never easy to lose someone, especially not someone so young,” Rachel said.

“No, it’s not. But we were too late, Rach. It’s not our fault.”

“Maybe if we flew harder,” the brunette argued weakly.

“We would’ve been too late anyway. She…had laid there for a couple of hours.”

This broke Rachel completely and she slumped down against the blonde’s chest. Quinn just stroked Rachel’s back. She felt bad as well about the death of the young girl, but she knew they were too late and they couldn’t have done anything. She was just glad they found her anyway, so her parents could bury her and give her a proper funeral. After a while Rachel broke away from the embrace and stood up. 

“Feeling better?” Quinn asked and looked up at her. It was only then she realized Rachel was only wearing a towel around her body. Quinn flushed and looked down quickly. The tiny brunette looked absolutely stunning as she stood there, her hair still wet and her skin damp. Quinn swallowed hard, her throat had gone dry at an instant. 

“Yeah, thanks. How are you, after last night?” Rachel asked and picked up her overall from her locker.

“I’m fine.”

“You sure? You didn’t look fine this morning. Have you slept at all?”

Quinn knew Rachel asked this out of concern, but it still annoyed her a bit. She stood up and walked to the door.

“Not so much,” she confessed and looked back at the brunette, who still looked stunning. “But thanks for last night,” she added and smiled a little.

“You’re welcome. Thank you too.”

“What for?” Quinn asked confused.

“For your comfort you just gave me.”

“You’re welcome,” Quinn smiled.

Before she would do something stupid, like push Rachel against the wall and kiss her, she turned and walked out of the locker room. 

~~~

Quinn walked out of the hangar after the late briefing. She couldn’t focus during the briefing, her mind kept wandering off to Rachel. She looked so freakin’ stunning in just a towel. She had noticed before how beautiful the brunette actually was, but had not paid much attention to it. But now she had seen Rachel in that little clothing, she could only but noticing it. And now it looked like she just couldn’t get rid of the image. Not that it was a bad thing, Rachel looked gorgeous. 

She smiled as she jumped in the chopper and sat on the floor of the chopper. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, leaning against the cargo door. Quinn thought back at the days at school as Rachel had put an effort in clothing better than the skirts and those hideous sweaters. Chuckling, Quinn shook her head. Rachel had definitely started to dress better, those jeans she wore last night looked great on her. From what Quinn had seen, the brunette had a nice ass. 

Shocked, she suddenly came to her senses. How could she be thinking like that about Rachel, or even watch her like that? She couldn’t do that to Jaidy, it felt like cheating. The sadness suddenly hit her once again and she noticed she was sitting at Jaidy’s favorite spot. She sprung up as hit by lightning and took a deep breath. She swore to herself she would never ever look or think about Rachel like she had. Still the image of Rachel wearing only a towel kept nagging in the back of her mind.

“Quinn!”

She looked up as she heard her name calling. Edmund Wagner came walking towards her, smiling.

“Hey, Eddie,” Quinn greeted him friendly and hugged him when he stood before her. He was taller then her, so she had to stand on her toes to hug him properly.

“Welcome back, blondie,” he smirked.

Quinn smirked back and took a step backwards. She was glad to see her friend back, but it also made her a bit sad. Edmund took her in quietly.

“I heard you found the girl,” he said, walking with her over the grass away from the chopper.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Must be tough,” the German noted and looked at the blonde.

He had to admit, she didn’t look as broken and sad when she had left, but she still wasn’t the old Quinn he used to know. He knew she wouldn’t be entirely the same and it looked like she was doing better. 

The blonde medic shrugged. “It wasn’t the first I couldn’t save someone,” she answered simply.

“But she was the first after your return.”

Quinn fell silent and just nodded. She plopped on the ground and pulled up her legs against her chest. Edmund sat next to her, staying quiet. He could only guess how hard it was for Quinn to be back at the place she had so many memories.

“It’s so hard to be back. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but…” Her voice trailed off and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

“You miss them.” Quinn nodded quietly. “I think it’s brave you came back. You really have balls, Stretch.”

Quinn chuckled and looked up at Edmund. She had missed him, more then she had thought. He always managed to make her laugh, he was her best friend.

“Thanks. I think I’ve borrowed them from you, Squirt,” she joked and jumped up.

“Really?”

He also jumped up and chased after her. 

~~~

Rachel sat in the canteen, looking at some maps sprawled out across the table. She was studying for her exam in a couple of weeks. She knew Ferdy would give the exam, so she wanted to be as prepared as she could be. 

She sighed as she heard Edmund’s thundering laugh go through the building. She looked up and watched Quinn came running in the canteen laughing , trying to escape Edmund. Laughing. Quinn was actually laughing. Mesmerized, Rachel watched the blonde’s face, all lit up. Finally she saw the old Quinn she used to know. 

She watched as Edmund caught the blonde around her waist and twirled around. Rachel couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous, she wanted to be the one to make Quinn laugh again. From the others, she had understood Edmund and Quinn were very good friends, but still, it should have been her. 

From behind her table in the back of the canteen, Rachel watched Quinn and Edmund sit down at a table not far from her. She could see the sadness return in the blonde’s eyes and wanted to take her in her arms and… Rachel mentally kicked herself and bowed her head over the maps. 

She should focus, she had to pass this exam. Still she couldn’t help her mind wondering off to the laughing Quinn. The blonde had looked so…happy for a moment. Rachel was glad to notice Quinn still had it, how brief it may have been.

“You won’t need these.”

Before Rachel could do something, Ferdy ripped the maps from the table and folded them up.

“Hey, I do need them. I need to prepare,” she protested and tried to grab the maps.

With just one hand, Ferdy stopped her and smiled at her. Rachel still tried to get a hold of the maps, but the black pilot was just too strong for her.

“Hobbit, stop fighting. Just, let yourself be surprised,” he just said and let go of her.

“I hate surprises,” the brunette grumbled and with her arms folded she plopped on the couch next to Ned.

“You can bribe me, I know what he’s up to,” Ned offered and grinned. 

Even before Ned could duck away, Ferdy hit him on the head with the folded maps. Hurt, Ned looked up and pouted.

“No, you’re not and you don’t,” Ferdy threatened and with a warning look towards Ned, he sat down. 

“Rachel, don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” Quinn suddenly said.

She had turned in her chair and looked at the pouting brunette. She knew how the brunette could be if she were to be surprised. 

“Thanks.”

Rachel relaxed a bit and looked over at Ned.

“Did the big, bald man hurt you?” she asked cooingly.

“Yes,” Ned played along and pouted even harder.

“Oh, now it’s my fault?” Ferdy protested, but Rachel saw he was holding back his laughter.

“Of course, you know it’s always you, if you’ve done it or not,” Rachel answered and laughed.

Ferdy couldn’t hold his laughter long and soon the entire crew, including Edmund, was laughing. Suddenly the bell rang, there was another call out. Ferdy, Rachel, Ned, Quinn and Steve ran out of the canteen, leaving Edmund behind.

“Be safe!” he yelled after them.

~~~

They were flying around through the Rockies for more than thirty minutes. Over the radio, Jackie had told them she’d received an in distress call from someone saying he was trapped on a ledge and couldn’t get off. So now they were flying around in search for this man.

“Does anyone see anything that looks like someone in distress?” Ferdy asked a bit annoyed, he hated these call outs without good coordination’s.

“Nothing here,” Steve reported from behind the radar.

“Here neither,” Quinn answered, she and Ned were looking through the open cargo door. 

She could understand why Ferdy was so annoyed, she was a bit too. But still, she would rather fly out one time too much. It could save someone’s live.

“Let’s check out the next chain and then we’ll return, okay?” Rachel suggested and Ferdy nodded.

“You can take over, it’s good practice,” Ferdy said.

Quinn smiled as she thought back at the studying Rachel earlier today. Rachel had always been one to get high rates at everything, so Quinn was glad the brunette was still so achieving. While looking at the scenery that slid past them, Quinn thought about the sad looking brunette earlier that morning. She had looked so sad, the blonde wanted to wrap her in her arms and never let her go. Once again she caught herself thinking about Rachel in another way then just friendship. For a moment she closed her eyes and reminded herself once again she wasn’t being fair towards Jaidy. She took a deep breath and looked outside again.

After another fifteen minutes they decided to head back to the base, also due to the fact the fuel tank was almost empty. Halfway back, Jackie reported that the call was a fake and the person in question got a ticket. 

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Ned complained, leaning back in his seat.

“Look at the bright sight,” Steve answered his brother and smirked.

“What bright sight?”

“Now you have more flight hours.”

“Hmm, true,” Ned admitted and content he stared back outside.

~~~

Whistling a random melody, Quinn sat on her knees on the floor of the chopper, checking the medical supplies. She knew they hadn’t been used this ride, but she still checked them. It would be a bit sloppy if she would miss something she really needed. So there she sat, whistling and she even felt cheerful. Suddenly she heard someone hop on the chopper, but she didn’t stop whistling.

“Hey.”

Surprised Quinn stopped whistling as she recognized Ned’s soft voice. She looked up and smiled at the younger man.

“Hey Ned,” she greeted him.

“I…Do you have a second?” he asked, glancing at the unpacked medical bags.

“Yes, of course. What’s on your mind?”

“I just wanted to say you did a great job this morning. I don’t think I could’ve done it,” he said, looking shyly down at his feet. Quinn thought he looked adorable, almost a look alike of that Rory kid back in high school.

“Thanks Ned. In time, you get adjusted to it, not able to save someone, but you never really get used to it.”

“I know what you mean, it stays difficult.”

Quinn nodded and started to pack up the medical bags. Ned stood up and kneelt down next to her and started to help her.

“Thanks,” Quinn smiled, she appreciated his help.

Ned nodded quietly and the blonde sensed he had more on his liver, but she didn’t push. For a few minutes he stayed quiet, but suddenly he looked back up at her.

“I think it’s brave you came back, after what happened,” he said.

Quinn swallowed, noticing the sudden lump in her throat. It always took her by surprise when people started to talk about the blackest period in her life.

“Thanks,” she said with a thick voice.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to upset you.” 

Clumpsy, he patted on her shoulder as he saw the blonde’s face, distort in agony. She took a deep breath and tried to pull herself together. 

“It’s okay,” she tried to smile at him. “Thanks, Ned.”

Ned nodded quietly, unsure of what to do with a crying chick and finished packing the bags. After he finished, he jumped out of the chopper. He was about to walk away, as he remembered something.

“Oh, Quinn?”

The blonde medic turned to face him, looking more relaxed.

“Yes?”

“The crew is going to grab something to drink in the pub later tonight. You want to come?”

“I’d love too.”

“Great.”

With that, Ned walked off, leaving Quinn behind. The blonde dumped the bags in their places and stood up. She jumped out of the chopper, closed the cargo door and proceeded to walk to the building, as Rachel came running at her from her left.

“Quinn, wait!”

Quinn stopped and watched as the brunette run towards her. A small smile crept up her face.

“Easy, tiger. I didn’t know you had such a good condition,” Quinn complimented as Rachel stood still next to her, without gasping.

“You’re not the only one who trained her whole life,” Rachel answered laughing. “So, did Ned invite you?”

“To the pub tonight? Yeah, he did.”

“Dammit, he beat me to it.”

Quinn smirked at Rachel disappointed face.

“Next time I’ll say no to him.”

“Ah, no, that’s mean. The next time I just have to be quicker.”

Chatting away, the girls walked into the building.

~~~

Rachel had always loved this pub. It was cozy and comfortable and it was her and her crew’s hangout after a hard day of work. And today had been hard, especially with that dead kid. She couldn’t quite understand why their blonde medic was so relaxed about it, they couldn’t save a child’s life. Rachel figured Quinn had seen much worse.

“Hey, I thought Quinn was coming to,” Steve noticed the absence of the blonde.

“She said she would come, but she wanted to stop at her house first,” Rachel answered almost automatically. 

Rachel and the rest had changed at the base, but Quinn hadn’t had a spare set of clothes in her locker yet. Grinning, the brunette followed a game of dart between Ferdy and Ned. Ned was clearly losing, making him grumpier every time Ferdy hit the bull’s eye. 

“There she is,” Steve yelled. “Our blonde angel.” Clearly, he already had a few shots.

Rachel looked up to see a gorgeous Quinn walking towards their table. She briefly smiled at Ferdy and Ned and sat down next to Rachel. Rachel couldn’t keep her eyes of off Quinn from the moment she walked in. The blonde was dressed in a pair of jeans, a black top with a white doll and a jean jacket which made her look casual and stunning at the same time. 

“Glad you could make it,” Rachel said and smiled shyly at the medic.

Quinn just nodded and looked around the bar. Nothing had changed since the last time she was here…

_ Quinn couldn’t count the numbers of glasses scotch she had had. To be honest, she didn’t care, she just wanted a refill. Begging, she looked up at Jason, the bartender. _

_ “Come on, give me another one. You know I’ll pay,” she begged him. _

_ “No, Quinn. You’ve had enough.” _

_ “Bastard.” _

_ Angrily she threw the glass against the wall and it broke in a thousand pieces. She watched and felt her heart was also broken into a thousand pieces. With tears streaming down her face, she stood up and tried to walk to the door. But the room was spinning and she was about to fall, as two strong arms caught her. _

_ “Wow, there. I think you had enough.” _

_ She looked up and recognized Edmund’s face right in front of her. For a moment she just stared at him, then she started laughing hysterically. _

_ “It’s all over, Eddie. It’s done. I’ve lost her.” _

_ Her laughing ended in crying hard, companied with screams of agony. She collapsed and fell on her knees. She couldn’t stop the stream of tears, nor the screaming. All Edmund could was hold her, crying softly with her… _

“You want to play darts?”

Quinn looked up and saw Ned’s questioning face in front of her. She needed a moment to snap back to reality, but then she grabbed the dart arrows.

“I’ll kick your ass,” she said jokingly and stood up.

~~~

Ferdy was looking at his crew from the bar, in his hand he held a drink. As he took a sip, he looked over at Quinn who was winning from Ned. He was glad she joined the crew, she really was good at her job. Setting down his glass, he took a deep breath and stood up from the bar.

“Quinn, Ned, can you come over here for a second?”

Ned and Quinn abandoned their game curiously and came sitting back at the table. Ferdy didn’t sit down, he was searching for words. He looked around the awaiting and questioning faces of his crew and decided there was no easy way to say it.

“I have something to tell you,” he started.

“Yeah, I figured something like that,” Steve joked, but shut his mouth as he met Ferdy’s eyes.

“This morning I heard I’m being transferred. I’m going to work at a base in New York,” he told them quietly. 

Everyone fell silent for a few moments, not knowing what to say about this.

“When are you leaving?” Rachel finally asked the question everyone wanted to know. 

“Not before there is a replacer. They’re setting up a new base and they asked me as the CO.”

“So, you’re getting promoted as well?” Quinn asked surprised, she was glad for Ferdy. She was sad to see him leave, but it was for a good cause.

“Yes.”

“Well, congratulations are in order then. Although, I don’t like to see you go,” she said and stood up and kissed him on the cheeks.

“Me neither, but it’s a change I can’t miss.”

“No, you definitely can’t,” Rachel agreed and congratulated him as well.

The rest of the crew also congratulated him and glad for their reactions, Ferdy sat down. It was only then he saw Rachel’s troubled face. He grinned, he knew Rachel would be troubled and he knew exactly why she was troubled.

“What about my exam?” she asked, she looked questioning up at the black pilot.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take your exam. I’m not gone that soon,” he winked and stood up. “Ned, want to have another round of darts? I’ll let you win.”

Like a young dog, Ned ran to the darts. Rachel looked after them and sighed. 

“I’m gonna miss him,” she sighed and took a sip of her coke.

“We all are,” Steve answered and stood up. “Another refill?”

Quinn and Rachel nodded and he walked away.

~~~

It was a few hours later, most of the crew had went home, only Quinn and Rachel were still in the pub. Quinn was sitting at the bar, sipping of her scotch. Behind her, Rachel was chatting with some bloke from town. Once again, Quinn’s mind went back in time…

_ With stretched out hands above his head, Ralf came walking down to their usual table, were Quinn and Joachim were sitting. _

_ “I finally won from Jaidy,” he declared cheerful and laughed. _

_ “I let him win,” Jaidy smiled and sat down next to Quinn. _

_ “You did not. I won fair and square,” the pilot protested and sat down as well. _

_ “Somehow I doubt that,” Joachim mocked him, earning him a push against the shoulder. _

_ Smiling, Quinn followed the bickering, placing her arm around Jaidy’s back. She felt truly happy, she had the best job and amazing friends who for the most part replaced her family. They were her family and she was theirs. She smiled as she felt Jaidy gave a chaste kiss on the cheek and once again she felt blessed. _

“I thought we had an agreement.” 

Rachel’s soft voice pulled her out of her thoughts and Quinn looked up, feeling slightly guilty with the scotch in her hand.

“I just needed one,” she whispered.

Rachel nodded quietly and moved in a bit towards the sad blonde.

“Please, let me fix you,”  she whispered. 

Carefully, the brunette wiped away the tears from Quinn's face. She wished she could wipe the sadness from the blonde's eyes. Softly, she placed a kiss on the blonde’s temple. With closed eyes, Quinn leant in on the kiss. She looked up and suddenly grazed the brunette’s soft lips. Surprised, Rachel let it come over her. The kiss was soft and tender and Rachel missed the presence of Quinn’s soft lips as Quinn suddenly broke the kiss. Broken and torn she looked away from Rachel.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

With one movement, Quinn emptied her glass and fled out of the pub, leaving an astonished Rachel behind…


	7. Chapter 7

Crying her eyes out, Quinn ran home. She didn’t care she had to leave her car at the pub, she was in no state of driving. How on earth could she have kissed Rachel? How could she do that to Jaidy? It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair at all. Finally, she reached her apartment and went inside. She grabbed Jaidy’s leather jacket and dove on the couch. Curled up to a ball, she sat there with Jaidy’s jacket in her hands, taking in her scent.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she cried out over and over again.

Quinn was rocking back and forwards while tears streamed down her face. She hated herself so much. It hurts so much to be here without Jaidy, not being able to touch her once more or to talk to her. Quinn wished there was a way to let out the pain, to just numb the hurting emptiness in her chest. In a fluent movement, she stood up from the couch and with Jaidy’s jacket still clutched in her hand, she walked up the stairs. 

As if in a daze, Quinn walked into the bathroom and opened the top drawer. There, in the back lay what she was looking for. She pulled out a fresh pack of razorblades and opened it. Jaidy’s jacket fell to the ground as Quinn picked up a fresh blade. She looked at it and felt the sharp side with her fingertip, it was sharp. 

For a second she hesitated and thought of the kiss with Rachel, how good it had felt. Guilt hit her hard, directly followed by the sadness and the hurting emptiness in her chest. No longer hesitating, she pressed down the blade against the skin of her arm. As the first stream of blood ran over her arm into the sink, she stared in awe at the blood and sensed the burning pain. 

Still she felt it wasn’t enough, she needed to feel more pain. She dragged the blade several times over her skin, the cuts got deeper and deeper. When she felt light headed, she dropped the blade and sat down on the cold floor, her back against the tiles. Through her tears she watched the blood drop on the floor, forming a small puddle next to her…

~~~

_ Half an hour earlier _

Flabbergasted, Rachel leant against the bar. Quinn Fucking Fabray had kissed her, on the lips. Unconsciously, she licked her lips, still tasting the sweet taste of Quinn’s lips, with a flavor of scotch.

“You need a drink?” Liv, the bartender asked grinning.

Liv’s voice brought Rachel back to reality, the blonde had stormed of, pretty upset. She pushed herself off the bar, looking at the slightly tinted girl behind the bar.

“No, thanks, Liv,” she said and walked towards the door.

“Then I’ll put it on the tap?” Liv asked, looking after the brunette.

“Please. Thanks, Liv.”

Rachel grabbed her jacket, waved at Casey behind the DJ booth and stormed out of the bar. Once she reached the parking lot, she noticed Quinn’s car still stood there. Rachel figured the poor girl walked home. She grabbed her bike from the wall and raced in the direction of Quinn’s house over the now familiar road. Gasping a little for air, she stopped at Quinn’s cottage. As she walked up the cottage, she noticed the door was open. Cautious, she walked inside, closing the door softly behind her. She walked into the empty living room. Doubting what to do, Rachel stood there for a few minutes. Something didn’t feel right, Quinn was way to upset when she left.

“Quinn?” she asked softly, she didn’t receive an answer.

Quietly, she walked up the stairs. She knew she shouldn’t do this, but she just wanted to know if the blonde medic was alright, nothing more. She reached the top of the stairs and didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t just barge into Quinn’s bedroom. Suddenly her eye caught the light in the bathroom and she didn’t hear any water run.

Slowly, Rachel walked towards the closed door and listened. She didn’t hear anything and slowly she pushed open the door. As soon as she stepped into the bathroom, she saw the blonde sitting on the floor with her eyes half closed. Rachel stepped closer and it was only then she saw the blood. Her eyes trailed up Quinn’s body and saw the cuts on the blonde’s arm, some were still bleeding. 

Quickly, she grabbed a towel and knelt down next to Quinn. Firmly, she pressed the towel against the wounds and hoped, no prayed, the girl hadn’t lost too much blood. Quinn’s head turned at the touch and she looked down at her arm, still a bit in a daze. 

“Quinn?”

When the blonde didn’t respond, Rachel was afraid the blonde was in shock. Pressing down on the cuts, the brunette tried to look Quinn in the eyes.

“It’s okay. I’m here,” she said in an offer to calm the girl down.

Carefully, Rachel took away the towel and saw the bleeding had stopped. Some of the cuts needed bandages.

“Come, let me help you.”

Rachel helped the taller woman up and walked her to her bedroom. She sat the blonde down on the bed and went in search for the first aid kit. Finally she found it in the bathroom and her eye caught the blood on the floor. She made a mental note she would clean that up later. She rushed back to the bedroom, where Quinn hadn’t moved a muscle. Rachel knelt down before the blonde medic and opened the first aid kit. Luckily it was a comprehensive one, so  she found the butterfly band aids quick and carefully placed it on one of the deeper cuts. In a reflex, Quinn pulled back her arm and seemed to snap out of her daze.

“Easy, I need to bandage it, so it won’t start bleeding again,” Rachel explained and softly pulled back Quinn’s hand.

She felt Quinn freeze under the touch and quickly Rachel placed the band aid on the cut. Out of the first aid kit she took some gazes and placed them on the other cuts. She wrapped the bandage around Quinn’s arm.

“It hurts,” Quinn whispered suddenly, looking down at Rachel’s act. “Please, make it stop,” she begged and looked down at Rachel with such a sadness, Rachel all wanted to do was to wrap the girl in her arms and never let go.

“I know it hurts. It’ll be alright,” the brunette cooed.

“No, it won’t. I’ve lost her forever and it’ll never be alright,” Quinn snapped and started crying.

It was only now, Rachel realized the blonde wasn’t talking about the cuts. She was talking about the grief.

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t stay here. Not in this house, hell, not even in this town.”

Rachel stood up and came sitting next to the crying girl. She wrapped her arm around Quinn and held her tight. She felt the other girl trembling against her body and could feel her pain. After a while, Quinn’s crying subsided and as Rachel looked aside, the blonde had her eyes closed. The tiny brunette lifted Quinn up and laid her down in bed. For a few seconds she looked down at her previous tormentor and realized the woman was no longer the girl back in school anymore. Softly, Rachel picked up the first aid kit and walked to the door.

“Please, don’t leave me.”

The husky, soft voice made Rachel look back and saw Quinn looking desperately at her.

“I won’t.”

She sat the first aid kit at the ground and crawled into bed next to Quinn. The blonde nestle herself against the tiny brunette’s body and Rachel wrapped her arms around the trembling girl. Suddenly she knew how she could calm down the blonde. Softly, scared to sing too loud, she started to sing.

**Rachel**

_ I'll sing it one last time for you _ __  
_ Then we really have to go _ __  
_ You've been the only thing that's right _ __  
_ In all I've done _ __  
__  
_ And I can barely look at you _ __  
_ But every single time I do _ __  
_ I know we'll make it anywhere _ __  
_ Away from here _ __  
__  
_ Light up, light up _ __  
_ As if you have a choice _ __  
_ Even if you cannot hear my voice _ __  
_ I'll be right beside you dear _ __  
__  
_ Louder, Louder _ __  
_ And we'll run for our lives _ __  
_ I can hardly speak I understand _ __  
_ Why you can't raise your voice to say _ __  
__  
_ To think I might not see those eyes _ __  
_ Makes it so hard not to cry _ __  
_ And as we say our long goodbyes _ __  
_ I nearly do _ __  
__  
_ Light up, light up _ __  
_ As if you have a choice _ __  
_ Even if you cannot hear my voice _ __  
_ I'll be right beside you dear _ __  
__  
_ Louder, Louder _ __  
_ And we'll run for our lives _ __  
_ I can hardly speak I understand _ __  
_ Why you can't raise your voice to say _ __  
__  
_ Slower, slower _ __  
_ We don't have time for that _ __  
_ All I want's to find an easier way _ __  
_ To get out of our little heads _ __  
__  
_ Have heart, my dear _ __  
_ We're bound to be afraid _ __  
_ Even if it’s just for a few days _ __  
_ Making up for all this mess _ __  
__  
_ Light up, light up _ __  
_ As if you have a choice _ __  
_ Even if you cannot hear my voice _ _  
_ __ I'll be right beside you dear

 

As she stopped singing, she looked down at Quinn. She had her eyes closed and her breathing was steady and shallower. Rachel herself closed her eyes, feeling tears burn. She hated to see Quinn like this, she hated to see the former strong cheerleader so broken. The last time she had seen Quinn like this had been when Finn had found out he wasn’t the father, but even then she hadn’t looked so broken like now. Quietly, Rachel cried for the girl in her arms.

~~~

The next morning Rachel woke up alone and in a strange bed. Disorientated, she needed a moment to realize where she was. She was at Quinn’s and… She shot up and looked frantically around her. Quinn wasn’t here. She rushed out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Rachel took a relieved breath as she found the bathroom empty. She heard noises downstairs, so she decided to go downstairs. She entered the kitchen and smiled at the sight. Quinn was already dressed in her uniform and it looked damn hot. It looked she was making breakfast for the two of them.

“Good morning,” Quinn greeted her and set down a mug of coffee and a plate with scrambled eggs and bread on the counter.

“Morning,” Rachel said back and sat down at the counter.

Soon, Quinn joined her and silence fell down between them as they ate. Neither of them knew what to say, Quinn looked clearly ashamed. Rachel eyed once again Quinn’s uniform and looked up at the blonde.

“Wait, are you going to work today?” she asked surprised.

Quinn shrugged and looked down at her mug. “Why not? I’m not sick or something,” she said.

The brunette needed a second to wrap her head around that one.

“But, last night you were a wreck,” she protested and looked down at Quinn’s arm.

Quinn saw the brunette glaring and pulled back her arm, so the bandage wouldn’t be visible. She knew she was a wreck, but she wanted to work. She wanted to fly and save lives. She needed to. If she wouldn’t go to work, she knew she’d turn crazy.

“I’m fine now, Rach. Last night…” her voice trailed off as she thought back at last night. She just couldn’t believe she had done it.

“Last night you hurt yourself, you can’t take that lightly,” Rachel whispered and reached out to place her hand on Quinn’s arm.

The blonde pulled back as soon Rachel’s hand landed on her arm and stood up.

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

“Fine.”

Surprised, Quinn whirled around to face Rachel. She had never ever in her life seen Rachel give up so easy.

“Fine?”

“Yeah. For now. Eventually we will talk.”

Quinn groaned, she could have known. Rachel wasn’t one to let go so easy.

“Fine. You done? We’re late.”

Rachel quickly took her last sip coffee and ran after Quinn, who was already outside.

~~~

All day long, Quinn had been trying to avoid Rachel. Of course, they had to fly out a couple of times, but that was different. That was professional, nothing more. In the chopper, Rachel couldn’t have a chance of talking to her. So now she was hiding in a by now familiar spot, namely in the chopper. She just sat in her chair, looking out of the window.

Her mind went back to last night. She never imagined she would be capable of doing that. Unconsciously, her hand stroked her bandaged arm. She remembered the stinging pain and then the relieve she had felt. It hadn’t taken away all her inner pain, but it was something. 

She knew it was wrong, it was very wrong to do. She knew she should talk about it, about the grief and the pain. She had to deal with the loss, but she just couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t talk about her, without suffering the consequences. She also knew that cutting wasn’t the solution, but it helped. It helped to deal with all of this.

“Hey you.”

Quinn looked up and saw Joyce standing outside the chopper. The blonde smiled weakly at her and Joyce climbed into the chopper. In Indian style she sat down on the floor and looked up at the sad looking Quinn.

“How are you doing, girl?” Joyce asked softly.

Quinn bowed her head, she actually didn’t want to talk about it. She sighed and stared back outside, doubting if she would answer. But on the other hand, it was Joyce, her best friend.

“Not so good,” she answered quietly and looked back at the red head.

“How come?”

Of course, Joyce wanted to know. Joyce always wanted to know if something was up. It wasn’t like Joyce was curious or out to get gossip, she just was concerned. Normally, Quinn didn’t mind, she told Joyce everything. Joyce was also the only one who knew about her and Jaidy. But Quinn didn’t know if she was ready to talk about all of this. She felt so confused.

“Did something happen between you and Rachel?”

Surprised, Quinn looked at Joyce.

“How do you know that?”

“Well, Rae is grumpy all morning and Rae is never grumpy,” Joyce explained.

Quinn nodded and decided to tell Joyce.

“Something did happen,” she started. “Last night at the bar, I kissed her. I kissed someone else, Joyce. It felt so wrong, like I was cheating.”

Ashamed, Quinn looked away from the redhead, barely able to stop the tears that threaten to roll down her cheek. She heard Joyce sigh and shift. Suddenly she felt a hand on her good arm and looked up at Joyce.

“But, sweetie, you weren’t. She’s not going to come back, if you kiss someone else or not.”

“I know, but it still felt wrong.”

Joyce stood up and wrapped her arms around the blonde medic, who had been her friend for so long.

“What are you going to do about Rachel? What did she say about the kiss?” Joyce asked.

“I don’t know, I ran off.”

“O. Have you spoken to her afterwards?”

“Yeah, sort of. She came to my house last night. It’s unbelievable, she finds me every time when I’m the most vulnerable,” Quinn said and smiled a little.

“Well, it’s good you have someone you can go to if you feel bad,” Joyce stated.

She was a bit sad Quinn wouldn’t come to her, but she could understand. Joyce had witnessed her at the worst and the blonde needed someone who hadn’t. She knew they were still friends. Suddenly Quinn stood up and stood at the edge of the floor, leaning against the cargo door.

“You don’t understand. Rachel and I have a history. A history that isn’t that nice. I used to torment her really bad. I don’t want her to see me like this, I want her to see me strong, happy. I want to be friends with her, not relying on her like I do now.”

She turned to Joyce, her eyes casted down. She really wanted to be friends with Rachel, but she couldn’t do that now all of her feelings were all over the place. There was no way she could be attracted to Rachel, her feelings were just playing tricks on her.

“Rachel doesn’t mind, I think. She cares about you. Sometimes, I see her stare at you with a worried glance.”

The blonde’s face softened a bit and a small smile crept up her face.

“Really?”

Joyce stood up and laid her hands on Quinn’s shoulder. Joyce was much smaller than the blonde, but she could look Quinn in the eyes.

“Yes. And you need someone to care about you. It’s time for you to let someone care.”

Quinn fell silent after those words. She knew Joyce was right, she should stop fighting. But something was stopping her.

“I think I blew it by kissing her. I don’t think she appreciated it,” she mumbled quietly.

“Have you asked her?” Quinn shook her head. “Then you don’t know.”

“What do you suggest then? Ask her? No, I think it’s wiser to keep distance.”

Quinn nodded to punctuate her words. She believed that if she kept distance, her crazy feelings for Rachel would subside eventually.

“If you think that’s the solution. Look Quinn, you can’t stop or hide your feelings.”

Joyce let her go and jumped out of the chopper. Confused, Quinn looked after her. She knew Joyce was right, you can’t stop feelings. She had tried it before with Jade, she refused back then to acknowledge she loved a woman. And now she refused to acknowledge she loved Rachel. She shook her head at that thought, she agreed with herself she wouldn’t think about the tiny brunette like that. But she knew she broke that agreement when she had kissed the brunette…

~~~

Rachel sat in the canteen, staring outside with her thoughts back at last night. Of course, she had been surprised when Quinn had kissed her, but she knew all along that that was the only thing she’d ever wanted. Then the medic had pulled back and Rachel missed those lips immediately. Half an hour later, she had found the blonde in her bath room, bleeding from her wrist. Rachel hoped Quinn wasn’t planning on suicide or something, ‘cause she knew she couldn’t live without her. Through the window, Rachel saw Quinn standing in the chopper, leaning against the cargo door. Mesmerized, the brunette stood up, walked to the window and looked at the blonde. She looked so damn broken again. Rachel knew she would do anything to fix her, to make her whole again. 

“Aren’t you supposed to studying?”

Steve’s voice sounded really close by and Rachel swirled around. She smirked at him.

“What’s the point without maps? Ferdy isn’t going to give them back,” she said and walked back to the couch.

“That’s because you won’t need them!” Ferdy answered and smirked at her.

Rachel was about to reply as the alarm bell sounded through the building. Rachel, Steve, Ned and Ferdy jumped up and ran to the locker room. When Rachel arrived in the locker room, Quinn was already chancing.

“You’re quick,” Rachel complimented her and Quinn just smiled at her. She grabbed her helmet, the small medical bag and ran out of the locker room. Rachel and the rest followed her quickly.

~~~

Soon they arrived at the crash site. On one of the ways up the Rockies, a car had rode through the crash barrier and hung now with the nose in the direction of a deep ravine.  The crew was the first to arrive at the scene and after Ferdy had put the chopper on the road, Quinn, Ned and Steve jumped out. Quinn overlooked the scene and sighed. A few locals had been gathered at the scene and were looking down at the car. Disaster tourists, Quinn didn’t like them very much. She looked around, but didn’t spot the red truck of the fire department yet, she could hear the sirens in a distance.

“Just leave it to the fire department to be late,” she sighed and started walking towards the car.

Ned followed her grinning, while Steve grabbed the climbing ropes out of the chopper. Cautiously, Quinn climbed down next to the car and tried to look inside. Behind the wheel sat a young man, leaning forward over the wheel. Quinn tried to get next to the driver’s door, but it was too steep.

“Sir? Can you hear me?” she yelled, but didn’t get a response.

From where she stood, she saw the man was bleeding heavily from his head and was non-responsive. She tried to open the door, but as soon as she pulled, the car started to shift.

“Hey you, get away from there.”

Quinn looked up and sighed. It was Ben freakin’ Dogerty. She knew him from her time here, he was an aspirant commander. It looked like he took over the job from old Bob Harrison. She gave one last look at the man and climbed back, she needed a rope anyway.

“Nice to see you again, Dogerty,” she greeted him as soon she was back on the road.

Ben Dogerty turned around and groaned.

“Quinn fuckin’ Fabray. I thought you left,” he asked harshly.

“I’m back. So, when can I go in?”

“As soon as we secured the car. Please, step back,” he requested and turned back to his men, starting to bark orders.

Shaking her head, Quinn walked back to her crew, she knew she couldn’t anything now. She saw Rachel and Ferdy had come out of the chopper as well and Quinn came standing next to Rachel.

“Well, that was harsh,” the co-pilot noted, apparently she’d overheard Quinn and Ben’s conversation.

“He hasn’t changed, that’s for sure,” Quinn shrugged and watched as the firemen started to secure the car.

“You didn’t mind he said it that…harsh?” Rachel asked surprised.

“Nope. It’s better than all the sympathetic looks and words,” the blonde stated simply.

With her arms crossed, she looked at the progress the men made. Impatiently she tapped with her foot as she watched they hooked up the ropes to the red truck and dragged them to the car.

“This is taking way to long, that man is dying.”

She grabbed the rope out of Steve’s hand and walked to the edge. At the same time she hooked the climbing rope to her harness and attached the rope to the crash barrier.

“Fabray, what do you think you’re doing?” Dogerty yelled at her and walked towards her with big steps.

“Trying to save a man’s life. What are you doing?” she asked him sharply.

“Trying to not get you and that man killed. Give us some space. Now.”

He pushed her back and she watched as the car slowly got pulled up. Suddenly her eye caught something liquid dripping out of the car. Before her eyes, one of the bystanders threw away his cigarette and the liquid caught fire. Almost immediately the car also caught fire.

“Get away there,” Dogerty yelled at his men and they fled away to get the hoses to put out the fire.

Quinn watched as the flames got higher and higher and almost reached the man. She looked back and saw the firemen were unrolling the hoses. She knew they would never be in time.

“No!” Quinn yelled and pushed Dogerty away.

She sprinted to the car, which was pulled up halfway. She pulled open the door and dragged the man out of the car. Just as she had him out, the car blew up…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs
> 
> *Snow Patrol - Run


	8. Chapter 8

Coughing, Rachel stood up. She, like the others, had been thrown to the ground, due to the explosion. She still was a little deaf as she looked around, but she could hear the screaming. She started walking around, searching for Quinn. On her path through the fragments of the car, she helped people up. Finally her eye caught the blonde and ran over to her. She knelt down next to Quinn, finding her unconscious.

“Quinn?”

Careful, she shook Quinn’s shoulder and the blonde slowly woke up. Disillusioned, Quinn looked at Rachel’s worried face and saw the chaos.

“What happened?” she asked with a hoarse voice as she scrambled up.

“The car exploded. You okay?” the tiny brunette asked worried and laid a hand on Quinn’s shoulder.

“Yeah, just a bit deaf. Are you okay?”

Rachel just nodded and looked down at the man beneath Quinn. Quinn followed her glare and swore softly as she placed her fingers on his neck.

“He’s gone.”

“Fuck.”

Surprised, Quinn looked up at Rachel as she cursed out loud. She wasn’t used to Rachel swearing.

“Come on, we have work to do.”

She stood up and pulled Rachel up as well. They started to walk around to help the wounded people around the place. Rachel knelt next to a heavy bleeding fireman, lying on his back with his eyes closed. She examined him quickly, realizing he was heavily injured.

“Quinn, can you come over here?” she yelled at the blonde who was sitting a few feet away.

Quinn looked up, nodded and came to her. “What is it?”

She looked down at the fireman and took Rachel’s place. She also examined him, but a bit better.

“He has a hard abdomen, is non-responsive and has multiple wounds. From the looks of it he also has broken a few bones. He needs to go to the hospital, stat,” she said, looking up at Rachel.

“I’ll find Ferdy and Ned,” she said and ran away.

Soon, they had lifted the man on a stretcher and the paramedic of the fire department had joined them to evacuate the man. Quinn was looking after the chopper as a fireman taps on her shoulder.

“I need your help, doc,” he said.

He led her to the red truck and only now, Quinn saw it had tipped over and lay on its side. The man led her further to the back and in horror she stood still. Under the truck laid Ben Dogerty, both his legs laid underneath it. They were trying to lift the truck.

“No, don’t lift yet. He will bleed to death,” she warned them and she knelt next to Ben.

Half-conscious, he looked up to her and groaned.

“Not you,” he growled and looked back at his men. “Lift that damn truck up,” he barked at them.

Immediately, they started to lift again, not wanting to disobey their commander orders.

“Stop it. Ben, if we lift this truck now, you’ll bleed to death,” she urged him and quickly took his vitals.

“Get away from me, woman,” he growled again, but started already to get weaker.

“Look, I know you don’t like me, but right now, I’m all you have. I’m going to help you, okay? You will get out of this.”

She didn’t say she didn’t know how he would come out of this. By the looks of it, the truck pretty much crushed his legs, but she didn’t know how badly.

“You,” she pointed at the man who brought her here. “Get my medical bag and check if the chopper is back yet,” she ordered him and the man ran away.

She directed her attention back at Ben, who had closed his eyes. Worriedly, she bowed over him and checked quickly if he was still breathing.

“Ben? Ben, open your eyes. Stay with me, buddy,” she begged him.

“I’m not your buddy,” he growled and opened his eyes, looking pissed off. “When are you going to lift that damn truck up?” he asked demandingly.

“As soon as it’s safe.”

“And that will be when I’m dead, right?” he said sarcastically.

“No, I won’t let you die,” she said and looked up as the fireman came back with her medical bag. “Thank you.”

“The chopper is on its way back,” he said and Quinn nodded.

She opened the medical bag and hooked Ben up to the portable heart monitor. As soon as it worked, she went in search for the tourniquets she needed. As soon as she found them, she turned back to Ben.

“I’m going to ties these around your legs real tight, okay?”

“You are not going to touch me, woman,” he barked, almost biting her head off.

Quinn started to feel irritated, she knew why Ben was being so stubborn, but all she wanted was to save his life.

“I’ll have to, Ben. Otherwise you’ll die,” she said and without paying much attention at his protests, she started to tie the tourniquet around his leg.

But as she reached his other leg, Quinn noticed there wasn’t a place to place the tourniquet. The truck laid way to high up, it was almost resting on his hip. She bit her lip, she didn’t know what she could do now. The only way to reach his leg, was to lift the truck up a bit, so she could slip underneath it. But if they lifted the truck, there would be a big chance Ben would bleed out.

“We have to lift the truck a bit,” she said with a thick voice.

“What?” Ben protested as he noticed the tourniquet in Quinn’s hand. “Aren’t you supposed to tie that around my leg?” he asked, he started to sound scared.

“Yes, but I can’t place it around your left leg, the truck lies to high,” she explained calmly.

“But if you lift it…” his voice trailed off, now he looked really scared.

“I’m going to be honest with you, there is a risk you won’t make it. You have what we call Crush Syndrome,” she told him, she knew he knew what it was.

“No,” he gasped and turned away his face. “You can’t lift,” he said, his voice thick with tears.

“If we don’t lift, you’ll die.”

“But if you do lift, I can die too? Is that what you’re trying to say?” he asked, turning his face back to her.

“Yes, but I try to be as quick as I can, I promise,” she said to him.

For a moment he was still, he thought through his options. Behind her, Quinn heard footsteps and as she looked up, she saw Rachel coming around the corner. She saw her mouth drop in horror, but closed it quick. She stepped forward and looked at Quinn.

“You need a hand?” she asked and knelt down.

“Yes. We have to lift the truck a bit to wrap the tourniquet around his leg. I want you to keep an eye on Ben, okay?”

Rachel nodded and moved to the other side of Ben, blocking his sight of his men. Quinn looked at Ben, who still hadn’t said anything.

“Ben?”

He turned his head to face her, he looked terrified. Trying to reassure him, she laid her hand on his shoulder.

“You sure you can do it?” he asked and Quinn nodded. “Okay then.”

Quinn looked up at the men and nodded at them.

“Start lifting slowly, okay?”

She watched as the truck slowly got lifted up. As soon as she saw an opening, she slipped her arm underneath. The first thing she felt was wet and as the truck lifted further, she saw his complete leg was crushed, there was no place to place the tourniquet. The men still lifted the truck and suddenly the blood squirted from underneath the truck right into the air.

“Lift up, quickly! We have to get him from underneath it!” she yelled as she realized what was going on.

“His pulse is dropping,” Rachel called out at Quinn.

The men lifted the truck further up quickly and Quinn and Rachel pulled Ben from underneath the truck. Both his legs were shattered, but right now Quinn needed to stop the bleeding. Rachel handed her gauzes as she still eyed the monitor.

“Pressure is dropping quick, Quinn,” she warned softly, around them stood half the firefigthers team.

Quinn just nodded and exerted pressure on the bleeding, but the blood gulped over her hands. She grabbed more gauzes.

“Come on, Ben. Don’t give up,” she mumbled as she eyed the monitor, his pressure was still dropping.

Grim, she pressed hard down on his leg, she needed to save him. No matter how much they disliked each other, he didn’t deserve to die like this.

“Cardiac arrest,” Rachel suddenly called and started CPR.

“You! Help her,” Quinn nodded at one of the men.

Immediately, he knelt down and started mouth to mouth. In her head, Quinn ran through the options she had. There was no way in hell she could see if she could clamp the bleeder, all she could do was keep pressure and pray. Minutes passed without changing. The blonde saw Rachel was getting tired, her heart compressions got shallower.

“Switch positions,” she ordered through her teeth.

Rachel switched with a fireman and shifted away. She took gauzes out of the bag and helped Quinn to press down on the wound. Another ten minutes passed and he still was in cardiac arrest. The men, who were performing CPR, stopped their actions and looked sad down at their commander.

“Keep going,” Quinn ordered them harshly, she wasn’t ready to let Ben go. He would make it.

“He bled out, Quinn,” Rachel said softly, as she released the pressure on the bleeding.

“No.”

The blonde pushed aside the men and started the compressions again. Grim, she stared at the monitor. He would make it, he was strong. She wouldn’t let him die, she promised him. The adrenaline kicked in once again and she pushed down his chest as hard as she could, she thought she heard a few ribs break. She didn’t care, as long as she could keep his heart going.

“Quinn.”

She felt soft hands on her hands and with tears streaming down her face she looked at Rachel’s sweet face. Slowly she slumped down, letting go of Ben.

“No,” she cried out.

She looked down at him and knew he was gone. She took a deep breath and wiped away the tears as she stood up. Rachel stood up as well, eyeing her concerned.

“Cover him up, please,” Quinn said with a soft voice.

She picked up her bag and walked away, leaving the body behind her. Rachel quickly followed her and briefly squeezed her shoulder. Quinn didn’t acknowledge she felt it, but Rachel knew she did. The blonde was just grieving, all over again. As they reached the crash scene, they saw the most injured had been evacuated or were helped by the ambulance medics.

“Come, let’s go home,” Rachel said and led her to the chopper, where the crew was waiting.

Without saying a word, Quinn climbed into the chopper, closely followed by Ned and Steve. Soon they were up in the air, heading down to the base.

~~~

With her head hung down, Quinn sat alone in the locker room. She was wearing her red cargo pants and her grey shirt, her jacket hung over the door of her locker. Her hair was still wet, so around her neck hung a towel. Silently, she cried. She cried for the loss of a friend, although most of the time they didn’t get along. Well, Ben didn’t get along with her. Quinn knew exactly why he didn’t like her and once again her mind went back in time

_Whistling a familiar melody, Quinn walked to her car after her shift. Right behind her walked Jaidy, they would meet up at the bar later that night. With a big smile, Quinn stepped in her car and drove off to her apartment. They would have their second official date and Quinn felt lucky tonight, she really liked Jaidy. It took a while for her to accept she liked women, but now she was fully embracing it. As she parked her car in the parking lot, she noticed a figure leaning against the building. Squinting, she saw it was a man, a broad man. Cautiously, she stepped out and walked to her door. But before she could reach the door, she was pushed up against the wall and Ben Dogerty was in her face._

_“Ben?” she choked out._

_“Yes, Ben,” he growled and pushed her harder against the wall. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked and she could smell he had been drinking._

_“What do you mean?” she managed to ask, he was pushing down on her throat._

_“I think you know what I mean. You stole Jaidy away from me,” he barked._

_“What? I…I didn’t.”_

_“Ah, you’re denying you’re a dirty dyke? Maybe you’re just confused, maybe you’re not a dyke. Why don’t we just find out?”_

_He slid his hand between them and rumbled with his pants. In one movement, he pulled hers down. He was about to push past her underwear as an angry voice cut through the dark air._

_“Let her go, Dogerty.”_

_Ben turned around, still keeping Quinn pressed against the wall and smirked at Jaidy, who looked furiously at him. In her hand she held a piece of wood._

_“Are you going to hit me with that?” he mocked and laughed a crazy laugh._

_“If you don’t let her go, I won’t just hit you,” she threatened and took a step towards them._

_Her eyes briefly met Quinn’s terrified eyes and rage streamed through her veins. “Let her go, Dogerty, and I’ll let you go.”_

_“Oh, now I'm scared,” he mocked her further. Suddenly his laughter died down and angrily he looked at Jaidy. “So it’s true? She turned you into a… into a…dyke?”  He spit out that last word. “You were supposed to marry me,” he screamed and let go of Quinn._

_Menacing, he walked towards Jaidy, who swung at him with the piece of wood. She started to feel a little bit scared now, he looked bigger than normal. With one hand, Ben grabbed the piece of wood and pulled it out of her hands. With force, he tossed it away and walked at Jaidy. Scared she walked back a few steps, but he grabbed her hands._

_“Maybe we should cure you first. After all, you haven’t been contaminated that long.”_

_Out of nothing, something hard hit him on the head. Unconscious, he fell aside on the ground. Quinn stood there with a piece of metal in her hand, shaking heavily. Terrified, the two looked at each other._

_“Did you kill him?” Jaidy asked softly._

_“I…I don’t know.”_

_Quinn knelt down and felt his neck. “No, there is a pulse.” She stood up and grabbed Jaidy’s hand. “Come. We’ll call the ambulance later.”_

_Side by side, they ran away…_

From the doorway, Rachel watched the crying blonde. She knew Quinn and Dogerty knew each other and thought they didn’t like each other very much. But maybe she was wrong, she had only seen them together just this one time. Softly, Rachel walked up to Quinn and sat next to her. Quinn once again didn’t acknowledge her presence, but Rachel didn’t care. Carefully, she wrapped her arm around the blonde and the blonde leant into the embrace, burying her face into Rachel’s shoulder.

“I couldn't save him,” she cried into her shoulder and Rachel just stroked her arm.

“You did everything you could, Quinn,” the brunette said.

“No, I didn’t. I should…” Quinn’s voice trailed off, she knew there was nothing she could’ve done.

“There was nothing you could do. His legs were too bad.”

“I know,” Quinn sniffled.

Careful, Rachel lifted Quinn’s face and watched red rimmed eyes and the tears streaming down her face. Without thinking, Rachel leant forward and kissed Quinn softly on the lips…


	9. Chapter 9

Surprised, Quinn let Rachel kiss her. After a few moments, the blonde leant into the kiss, participating in the kiss. She felt Rachel slowly open her mouth and her tongue pushed against her lips. As if she suddenly woke up, Quinn broke the kiss and tore herself away from Rachel.

“I…I…” she stuttered and stepped back.

“I’m sorry, I thought…” Rachel started and stood up as well, approaching Quinn slowly.

“I…We can’t do this, Rach. I can’t,” she said. “I’m sorry I kissed you before.”

With that, Quinn fled out of the locker room. Defeated, Rachel sunk down on the bench again. She really enjoyed that kiss and she thought Quinn did too. Hell, she even kissed back. Apparently, she had estimated it wrong. She felt like such an idiot right now, she had taken advantage of the broken girl. How could she make this up to the blonde? Rachel figured Quinn wouldn’t want to see her or be alone with her. She was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn’t hear the footsteps in the hall. It was only when Quinn was standing right in front of her, Rachel looked up, questioning.

“Quinn?” she asked confused.

She saw the doubt in Quinn as she stared down. The blonde suddenly lifted her up, pushed her against the lockers and kissed her. Once again surprised, Rachel let it happen and fervently kissed the blonde back. With tears streaming down her face, Quinn stepped back from Rachel. Without saying a word, Rachel just stared into the blonde’s eyes, until Quinn just turn around and walked out of the locker room. But this time, Rachel didn’t feel defeated but got left with more hope than she ever had. Quinn had come back and had kissed her again, so maybe she shouldn’t give up hope. Maybe she should fight for her, let her see she loved her. With a smile she left the locker room.

~~~

Fed up, Quinn was filling the medical bags. She was fed up about kissing Rachel again, she didn’t quite understood why she went back and kissed her. Angry, she threw a new package of gauze in the bag and zipped it closed. With one angry movement, she threw the bag onto the ground. Deep down, she knew why she went back, but was afraid to admit it. She just couldn’t get the tiny brunette out of her mind. Every time she saw her all she wanted to do was kiss her and hold her in her arms. Angrily, Quinn shook her head, she couldn’t think this way about Rachel. She shouldn’t even be considering looking at her, she had a girlfriend. Sudden guilt fell over her as she thought about Jaidy. She let the filling for what it was and sank to the floor. For a moment she let the guilt and sadness overwhelm her. She looked up as she heard footsteps came her way and prayed it wouldn’t be Rachel. Luckily for her, it was Joyce who came towards her. Without saying a word, she sat down next Quinn. For minutes they sat silent next to one another. Out of habit, Quinn rested her head on Joyce shoulder.

“I heard about Ben. I’m sorry,” Joyce finally said and turned her head a bit towards Quinn.

“Yeah. It was a lost case, but it was still sad,” the blonde answered calmly and knew she had to thank Rachel for that calmness.

“But that’s not what’s your bothering, is it?” Quinn just shook her head, not able to answer. “Is it Rachel?” Joyce guessed and the blonde just nodded.

Quinn lifted her head up from Joyce’s shoulder and looked at her, frowning.

“I just can’t get her out of my head. You’re right, I can’t stop or hide my feelings,” she finally said and casted her eyes down, studying her hands.

“No, you can’t. I hear a but,” Joyce smirked.

Quinn smirked and looked back up at her friend. “Why do you know me so well?” she joked. “But you’re right, there is a but. I feel guilty.”

“Towards Jaidy?” Quinn nodded and looked down again.

Joyce wrapped her arm around Quinn and pulled the blonde in a tight embrace. She sighed, she knew Quinn was struggling.

“I can understand that, but Jaidy is gone and she’s not coming back. I think you need to go on with your life,” Joyce said, stroking Quinn’s arm. “I think she wanted you too.”

“I don’t know if I can,” the blonde sobbed softly, again those damn tears.

“I know you can and if you have Rachel, you certainly can.”

Quinn nodded silently, still feeling tore apart between her feelings for Rachel and Jaidy. But Joyce was right, Jaidy was gone. She had to leave Jaidy behind, had to say goodbye. She just didn’t know if she could say goodbye.

“We’re going to the bar after the shift, are you coming too?” the redhead asked and suddenly Quinn started laughing out loud. “What?” Joyce asked, frowning.

“Nothing. Something between Rachel and me,” she laughed and stood up. “Thanks, Joyce.”

“Anytime, sweetie.”

Joyce stood up as well and hugged her tight. “So, you’re coming?”

“Yes, I will. I only will be a bit later.”

Joyce nodded, let go of the blonde and walked away. Quinn watched her go and picked up her filling job. Joyce was right, Jaidy didn’t want her to mourn forever. Actually, she hadn’t wanted her to mourn at all. She would’ve wanted for Quinn to celebrate life. But before Quinn could give in to her feelings for Rachel, she first had to do something.

~~~

Quietly, Rachel sat in the bar, sipping of her drink. Every time the door of the bar opened, her eyes shifted to the door. But every time she got disappointed when it wasn’t Quinn.

“Yo, Berry, what’s up with you?” Steve asked and startled, Rachel looked up.

“What?” she asked confused.

“What’s wrong?” Ferdy asked grinning. “You’re never this quiet,” he added.

Rachel just shrugged and once again she looked back at the door as it opened. Some random bloke walked in and the brunette sighed. Joyce had observed her and knew why she was this quiet. She knew Rachel was worried, she herself was worried too. Quinn had promised to come, but she still hadn’t showed up.

“Maybe she’s excited for tomorrow,” Ned slurred, smiling happily.

Rachel’s head snapped back at him, scowling at him and the rest who looked rather semi innocent. She squinted at them and looked back at Ned.

“What’s tomorrow?” she asked.

 

“Didn’t you know? Guys, why didn’t anyone tell her tomorrow is test day,” he said slurring, turning around at Steve and Ferdy.

Ferdy just looked down, burying his head in his hands. Steve pulled Ned out of his chair.

“Walk,” he ordered his brother. “I’ll take him home. Sorry for that.”

“Why? I don’t want to go home. I wanna tell Rae…”

Steve just pulled Ned with him to the door, out of the bar. Ferdy just shook his head and looked guilty at Rachel.

“It was supposed to be a surprise,” he said.

“Well, I still don’t know what I have to do,” she stated, her arms crossed.

“Do for what?”

Rachel swirled around at hearing the familiar husked voice next to her. Smiling happy she saw the blonde stood behind her, still wearing her coat. Rachel had to fight the urge to embrace Quinn, but she wanted to take it easy.

 

“Ned told her she has her final test tomorrow,” Ferdy informed her.

 

“O…” 

Quinn looked back at Rachel, who looked rather annoyed. She knew the brunette wanted to know more and held back her laughter.

“Did he spill more?” she asked Ferdy.

“No, Steve took him home.”

“Good.”

Satisfied, she sat down. Rachel looked like she could burst out of her skin with curiosity and it made Quinn smile.

“You want something to drink, Quinn?” Joyce asked as she stood up.

“Coke, please.”

Joyce nodded and walked off to the bar. Quinn looked around her and recognized the bar tender, it was the same girl from a few nights ago. Vaguely, the girl looked familiar, but Quinn couldn’t place her from where she knew her. She turned her head and saw another girl standing behind the DJ booth, she just looked like the bar tender. Quinn frowned and looked back and forth between them.

“They are twins,” Rachel said, she saw Quinn looking at them.

“Ah, that’s why they are look a likes,” the blonde smirked and took her drink from Joyce.  

Rachel sighed and stood up.

“Where are you going?” Quinn asked curious, she was just about to talk with the brunette.

“Outside. I need some fresh air and since Ferdy here isn’t telling me anything…” Threatening, she looked at him, but smiled.

Quinn watched her leave, eyeing her ass. A smile crept up her face as she saw Rachel’s ass came really out in those jeans.

“Quinn, around what time will you be at the base tomorrow?” Ferdy asked, ready to discuss their plan for tomorrow.

~~~

Enjoying the cool air, Rachel leant against the wall. In her hand she held a cigarette. She knew smoking was bad, but it wasn’t like she would use her voice professionally. She took another drag as she thought back of Quinn. She looked really gorgeous, especially now she started to laugh. Rachel had noticed her laughter didn’t reach her eyes yet, but Rachel wouldn’t give up to make it happen.

“Since when are you smoking?”

Rachel swirled around as she heard Quinn’s voice behind her. The blonde looked surprised and a bit annoyed. Quickly, Rachel putted out her cigarette.

“Since I came here. I know it’s bad,” she admitted and smiled.

Quinn come standing next to her, leaning against the wall and with her hands in her pockets. Rachel thought she really looked lost right now.

“You know, you used to go on and on about how bad smoking was.”

Rachel smirked at the memory.

“Yeah, you remember what Santana than used to say?” she asked, looking aside at the blonde.

“Smoking makes my singing voice better,” they said simultaneous and started laughing out loud.

Quinn looked at Rachel, she really liked hanging out with the tiny brunette. She couldn’t understand why she had fought against her feelings, Rachel really was great. She watched the brunette laugh, her eyes lit up in the dark. Quinn knew, her eyes hadn’t lit up in a while, but she had the feeling they would be again sometime. And she would have to thank Rachel for that.

 

“I said goodbye to Jaidy,” she said out of the blue. 

 

Rachel stopped laughing and silence fell between them. Quinn could feel Rachel’s eyes on her, but she didn’t look up. 

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but it still hurts. I really loved that woman.”

Now she looked up at Rachel, the brunette had a serious look on her face as she looked back. If Quinn could choose, she would rather see the brunette smile then serious.

“I think that’s really brave, Quinn.”

Careful, Rachel laid her hand on Quinn’s shoulder to comfort her. Rachel raised her hand and with a finger she brushed over Quinn’s cheek where once again a tear was falling.

“Thank you. I had to do it, she would’ve wanted me to.”

“I wish I knew her, she sounds amazing,” Rachel said softly, once again suppressing the urge to wrap the blonde into an embrace.

“You would’ve liked her,” Quinn smiled.

Silence fell between them. Quinn stared into the dark, searching for words. She wanted to let the brunette next to her know she wanted to give it a try. Their kisses had been stuck in her head and to be honest, she missed kissing Rachel. She hadn’t expected it, but Rachel was a good kisser.

“Rachel?”

Questioning, Rachel looked aside, meeting Quinn’s hazel brown eyes.

“Yes?”

Still, Quinn was searching for words as she stared into those brown eyes of the brunette. A few times, Quinn opened her mouth, but just couldn’t find the words to express her feelings. She moved from the wall and stood in front of Rachel. She locked eyes with her and kissed her softly on the lips. She felt Rachel deepened the kiss and laid her hand in Rachel’s neck. The brunette laid her hands around Quinn’s waist. After what seemed an eternity, they broke the kiss, needing the air. Quinn leaned her head against Rachel’s forehead.

“I believe I’ve fallen in love with you,” she whispered.

Rachel just stared at her, not believing her luck. Taking the silence as the brunette was offended, Quinn took a few steps back.

“But you’re not,” she said and looked away from Rachel.

She was about to walk to the door, as the brunette grasped Quinn’s wrist. Surprise Quinn looked up at her, suspecting for Rachel to start yelling, but Rachel’s eyes were soft and a smile played around her mouth.

“I have. For a long time.”

The blonde squinted at Rachel, not believing the words the brunette had spoken. Her mind was probably playing tricks with her or she would wake up at any second. She must been dreaming. How was it possible that Rachel had been a long time in love with her? She had been here for a few weeks, not even a month. The last time they had seen each other was back at…

“School?”

Non-understanding, Quinn looked at the tiny brunette, who looked like she was about to cry.

“Yes, I’ve been in love since I saw you that first day at school. But you were with Finn and later with Puck and Sam.”

“But you chased after Finn,” Quinn stated confused.

“I thought that if he was out of the way…”

“I would see you,” Quinn filled in.

Rachel just nodded and pulled Quinn back in her embrace. She was so glad the blonde finally saw her for who she was. She just couldn’t stop smirking, even if she’d wanted to. She felt Quinn wrapped her arms around her waist and met her eyes.

“I don’t know what to do next, Rae,” she confessed softly. “I mean, I…”

“It’s okay,” Rachel interrupted her and smiled reassuring at her. “I get it. You just said goodbye to Jaidy, you can’t do that over night.”

Now Quinn smiled a little, it was like the girl she used to torment was in her head. “No, I can’t. But, that wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here. We’ll take it slow, okay?”

“Thanks, Rae.”

Softly, Quinn kissed her again. They didn’t hear the door open and neither did they hear the footsteps.

“I hate to break this up, but you should come in.”

Startled, the intertwined girls looked up and saw a smirking Joyce standing next to them. Quinn just smirked back, but Rachel looked concerned.

“Why? What’s going on?” she asked.

“We have to get back to the base. There’s a call out,” she told them.

“But the other crew…” Quinn started confused.

“They need us.”

Quickly, the two followed Joyce back inside where a concerned looking Ferdy was on the phone. Quinn and Rachel sat down and looked up at him as he hung up.

“It’s that time of year again. We got bushfires,” he told them.

“You’re kidding. Let’s go,” Quinn said and stood up.

“Wait, we can’t go. We don’t have a flight engineer, Ned is way to loaded,” Rachel protested and looked at Quinn.

“Shit, you’re right,” Ferdy mumbled.

“I’ll go.”

Surprised, Ferdy and Rachel looked up at Joyce, who looked confident down at them. Quinn stood just smirking behind her.

“You?”

“Are you a flight engineer?”

“She’s the best,” Quinn smirked and slammed her on the back, Joyce just grinned.

“Then why are you behind the desk?” Rachel asked suspicious.

“Because, officially I’m declared unfit, due to an injury to my knee,” she told them. “But this is an emergency. Shall we?”

Rachel stood up and followed Ferdy and Joyce outside. As she walked outside, she grabbed Quinn’s hand, who lightly squeezed back.

“I’ll put in the tap!” Liv called at them and looked concerned after them, she had heard what was going on.

“Thanks, Liv!” Rachel yelled back, just before the door fell close behind her.

Liv proceeded to do the dishes as Casey walked up at her, looking at the closed door.

“Hey, Liv. Was that who I think it was? That blonde?” she asked, leaning on the desk, looking down at her sister.

Liv looked up and nodded. “Yep, that was Quinn Fabray.” She glanced over at Casey, who had a concerned glance over her face.

“Wow, I almost didn’t recognize her,” she said.

“Me neither, sis. Me neither.”

 

~~~

The chopper soared through the dark night. In the back, Quinn was preparing for a long and intense night. They would assist the helicopters of the fire department and help if there would be people in danger.

“Ferdy, what’s the wind direction?” Steve asked as he leaned aside.

“South. It’s blowing the fire towards town.”

Silence fell in the chopper after the bad news. Quinn could look through the windshield and saw the orange glow of the fire. It was way closer to the town then she thought. She swallowed and looked over at Joyce, who looked tense.

“We have the first people in distress, they are at the camping site in sector Seven B,” Ferdy said through the intercom. “They got surprised by the quick upcoming fire. Quinn?”

“Let’s pick them up,” Quinn said and got ready to go down.

“Quinn, be careful,” Rachel said, looking over her shoulder at the blonde medic.

“I will,” Quinn promised and smiled reassuring at the tiny brunette.

Joyce slid open the cargo door and only now, Quinn saw how close the fire was at the camping site. On the ground she saw three people wave at them and looking scared at the fire that closed in on them. Quinn knew it would be a close one and they had to have to act real quick. She hooked herself and the sling on the cable and felt herself lower towards the ground.

“Thank God!” the man yelled and ran towards her.

“Do you have everything?” Quinn asked, she knew it was important to take the most important stuff.

“Yes, we do.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Quinn said and wanted to the slid the sling over the man’s head, but he stopped her.

“No!” he yelled and pointed at his daughter. “She first.”

Quinn nodded and motioned her to come to her. The girl ran to her, looking scared back at the fire. The blonde slid the sling around the girl’s waist, who grabbed her waist scared.

“It’ll be okay,” Quinn said sweetly. “Soon you’ll be save.”

She motioned to Joyce to pull them up and soon they were lifted up into the chopper. Quickly Quinn slid the sling off the girl.

“You’ll get my mummy and daddy?” the girl asked scared.

“Yes, I will. I’ll be back soon.”

She smiled reassuring at the girl and walked back to the door. Soon she was down on the ground again and saw the fire had reached the first few tents of the camping site.

“Come, quick!” Quinn yelled and the man pushed his wife over to Quinn.

“Can’t you take us both?” the woman asked scared as the blonde slid the sling around her and shook her head.

“No, that would be too heavy.  Don’t worry, there’s still time.”

Quinn motioned at Joyce to pull them up. The woman looked down at her husband, who looked scared at the fire, what came closer and closer.

“I love you,” she yelled down at him.

Soon, they got pulled into the chopper and the girl flew to her mother, who wrapped her daughter in her arms.

“Quick, we have to hurry,” Quinn said to Joyce and jumped out of the chopper for the third time. She looked down and saw the fire had almost reached the man, he was looking scared at it. Quick she hooked him up and motioned to be pulled up. Just in time they got loose from the ground, the fire almost touched the man’s shoes.

“Pull your legs up,” Quinn yelled at him as she saw it. Soon they were back in the safety of the chopper and as quick as they could, they soared through the dark night, back to the base, leaving the fire behind them for now…


End file.
